Happy Labor Day from Cindy for Congress

The bookends of summer have become the Memorial Day weekend and the Labor Day weekend. To many Americans, the two "long" weekends are nothing more than that, long weekends: chances to travel (not much of that this summer, due to high energy prices); cook-out; catch up on chores, or just relax for an extra day off.

Memorial Day took on a sorrowful, yet profound, meaning to me when my son Casey (who was born on Memorial Day in 1979) was killed in BushCo's demented occupation of Iraq. I can no longer celebrate my son's birth, or think of it just as another day to sleep in.

Labor Day was made a Federal holiday in 1894 and is celebrated on the first Monday in September. It was proposed by the Central Labor Union in NYC as a "day off" for workers and was accompanied by speeches from politicians and prominent Labor activists on everything from the economy to social issues.

Labor Day is significant to Cindy for Congress because we recognize that workers courageously sacrificing for future workers is what elevated the working class to the middle class and is what elevated the working poor to a much higher standard of living. Cindy for Congress is appalled at the attempts to quash the rights of workers to organize and at unions that have leaders that seemingly negotiate for the "bosses" and not for the members.

Cindy for Congress has a labor platform that has been hailed by union activists from around the world and we would like to take this day to honor workers and to promise that we are together in the struggle for better jobs, a living wage, health and education benefits and the right to work in a safe and oppression-free work place, among other struggles. The right to work must be extended to our brothers and sisters from across the border who migrate to the US not only to survive, but also because of the "free" trade agreements that suppress wages and either send jobs to other coutnries or make them disappear all together.

Many people don't fully grasp our "People before Politics" slogan, but it is quite simple. People, ordinary people, are marginalized or ignored by the political spheres and processes in this nation where big business and special corporate interests are served before the needs of the citizenry. Cindy for Congress believes that the foremost thought in ever politician's mind should be: "How will this decision affect my constituents, and what can I do to make things better?" Cindy for Congress is fully committed to ordinary citizens that don't have the capital behind them to buy their representative's votes, legislation, or even attention.

Cindy for Congress supports Labor because we believe that organized Labor has made this world a far better place and the right to organize is a basic human right.

Cindy for Congress would also like to send solidarity to our friends and colleagues in New Orleans who have been working for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf States since Katrina. Our hearts and best wishes go to the people who have been struggling to put their lives back together for the past three years in hopes that Gustav won't be as devastating as the last natural disaster that turned into a man-made calamity.