Awhile back (actually 7 years ago!) I posted diary about my father’s reflection on Labor Day. Not much has changed politically , although he’s now 96 and in skilled nursing. Nowadays we’re just waiting for the call from staff there as he’s not likely to last much longer. He has been severely incapacitated for over a year now and hasn’t said anything at all about the coming election. Rather doubt he will be able to vote in 2020, even if he’s still alive .But… this is his email:
On this day in 1946, as a Journeyman Shipfitter in Local No. 9, I marched up Market Street with hundred if not thousands of other loyal union members representing all kinds of trades and services in San Francisco. I doubt if such a number will ever march up Market Street again.
I should tell you that as an employee of the Navy Yard there was no requirement to be a member of a union, but I strongly supported the Unions then as I do to this day.
Happy Labor day.
As far as I know, he hadn’t been a union member since he left the union-eligible position for a desk job sometime in the '50's. But he knows how important unions are, and that he will never forget.
An enemy of unions never got his vote. Or mine.