May Day — probably one of the most misunderstood dates of merit on our calendar. It’s not exactly a holiday — the official Labor Day isn’t until September. But maybe that’s good, because instead of becoming a day of rest, May Day remains a day of engagement.
May Day’s roots reach back to the Haymarket Riot of 1886, the culmination of labor unrest. Today it is called the International Workers Day, celebrating the achievements of the labor movement, and as such it is steeped in political interpretation on the rights, entitlements and protections of the work force.
What most people don’t know is that May Day was once renamed Americanization Day, and later declared Loyalty Day by President Eisenhower, to counter the Communist association with the Soviet Union’s May Day celebration. Loyalty Day was a day set aside for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom. No surprise here: That which was claimed by the workers of the world was “reclaimed” in the name of big government.
Given what the United States government, particularly this administration, has done to erode worker’s right and securities, it’s ironic that the two holidays compete for the same date. This administration has pushed through laws that prohibit more workers from organizing, negotiated trade agreements that send employers and jobs overseas, reduced funding for health and training programs for the working poor, and fostered the current air of discrimination and harassment against undocumented workers who contribute substantially to our economy.
Since when did eroding workers’ rights merit loyalty?
Labor rights and immigrant rights overlap on the streets of Portland and many other places where day labor has become an income generator and a convenient service to the community. It’s low-wage, it’s on the fly and it’s easily exploited, as many day laborers have experienced. But even as the day labor movement seeks to get more organized and established in the city’s east side, it continues to face harassment and pressure to leave the area.
In the more traditional workplace, employees that can’t export jobs for cheap labor have the cheap labor imported instead, and immigration status becomes a powerful tool for employer seeking to keep wages and standards on the cheap. The administration has fanned the flames of the “us against them” mentality toward immigrants, which has overshadowed the fact that people seeking to gain legal citizenship face myriad obstacles of time, money and politics. We have to ask, who stands to gain when workers are denied the protections of citizenship? The answer is the same as those who stand to gain when workers are barred from organized labor. Maybe it’s the same folks celebrating Loyalty Day while the rest of us march.
Labor rights are human rights, a fact that extends beyond borders and nationalities, oaths, documents and pledges of loyalty. Disciminating against immigrant labor is an insult to our nation’s heritage. We have to work together. It’s the only way to march forward.
