Happy Labor Day

Nationally, Labor Day has been celebrated in the US since 1894, although some states and cities marked a "Labor Day" some years before.  Although it's becoming more commercialized, it doesn't seem as much as has Thanksgiving or Christmas or even the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington.  And, it marks the unofficial end of summer.

Interesting to read that the so-called "right-to-work" laws (I prefer to call them "right-to-work-for-less" laws.) and the demise of labor unions have had an impact, a negative one, on lower and middle class workers in the US.  I might have my numbers a bit jumbled, but labor union membership has fallen to about 11-12% of the American workforce; that's quite a tumble, from nearly 50% just 30 or 40 years ago.

The falling membership, combined with many states' "right-to-work-for-less" legislation, has seen an expected loss of income (inflation adjusted) for union members.  And it's probably no surprise that nonunion workers have also see their wages decline.  Several studies have pointed out that nonunion workers, both low- and middle-income earners, are making 10% to 16% less money.  This goes for those with and without high school education and men and women.

I know the unions have had their faults, sometimes winning ridiculous concession in bargaining.  But it's important to remember that they didn't negotiate unilaterally, in a vacuum.  Management was also part of the process.  Unions often protect lousy workers, but also protect good workers.  If nothing else, check out the Flint Sit-Down Strike in 1936--the before and after.  You can find a really good video of it (about 54 minutes) online.  Listen to the workers who tell what working was like in the GM plants.  And, we're talking the 1930s here, not the late 19th Century!

There was also a good op-ed in today's newspaper.  It, as has almost universal, decried the choices we have for President.  It, correctly, noted that neither major party candidate should be President, that neither is qualified.  The author did point out, though, that "To some extent, we've been here before--after all, the election of Abraham Lincoln was the cue for a war."  But then he added, "But no one remotely resembling Lincoln is running this year.  If that doesn't worry you, maybe it should."  In addition to the last sentence, the word "remotely" resonated with me.

The Tigers are hanging in there.  Those waiting for the shoe to drop, the end of any playoff aspirations, are still waiting.  The resilience of the Tigers is good to see and fun to watch.  Just when it's about time to give up on a game, "Oh, another loss.,"  they come back to win.  About the only distressing thing is that they often don't play the game very well--fielding mistakes, base running mistakes, etc.  Some of the goofs are just plain stupid.  In a way, it's a miracle they are winning games and are still in the hunt.  Maybe that's because the other teams don't play very well, too.

BTW, I know I'm beating a dead horse, but the home plate umpires have been rotten.  As I've noted, if those electronic boxes on the television screens are at all accurate, the umpires are terrible at balls and strikes.  They are inconsistent, except on low balls, which always seem to be strikes.  But others, high pitches, well, your guess is as good as the batters'.  And, that makes it a difficult thing to combat while batting.  "Is he going to call this one a strike this time or not?"  It's not just the call, but the batters' thinking going into it.  First, they might have to swing at a bad pitch.  Second, that little bit of hesitation, with pitches coming in at 90+ mph, makes it tough to catch up with pitches coming in at 90+ mph.  Again, if those electronic boxes are accurate, some of those pitches are a couple of ball widths inside or outside or up or down.  And, one would think Major League umpires would catch on to catchers' practices of "framing the ball," of quickly jerking their mitts to the plate on pitches off the plate.  Maybe not......  Go Tigers!