August 22, 2024 • 32 mins
Ever wondered about the true significance of Labor Day beyond barbecues and retail sales? Join us as we uncover the rich history and enduring impact of this pivotal holiday with the help of our favorite educator, Chad Reed. Together, we explore the post-Civil War era and the rise of labor unions as a force against worker exploitation, shining a light on critical events such as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Haymarket Square riot. This episode provides a deep dive into how industrialization shaped labor movements and laid the groundwork for the rights and protections we often take for granted today.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
perspective.
Perspective is spelled p e, r,s, p, e, c t I v e perspective.
The 30 000 foot viewperspective put on someone
else's shoes.
Perspective can also refer tothe state of existing in space
(00:20):
or one's view of the world.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Perspective rea audio space or one's view of the
world.
Perspective.
Rea Audio Reemployability.
Well, you're probably alreadywriting your out-of-office
message and getting your boat,maybe your barbecue, ready,
maybe you'll go buy somefurniture or maybe a car this
weekend.
Perhaps this is the weekendthat you finish your school
shopping.
In Florida and a bunch of otherstates it's the first day off
(00:43):
for students and teachers of theyear.
You got?
It're talking about labor day,the first monday of every
september, where we officiallyclose out summer and start
seeing christmas decorations inthe stores.
Well, I invited my favoritehigh school teacher and good
friend, chad reed, to join usthis episode to talk about the
history behind labor day and whywe should be more grateful for
(01:03):
this holiday than just for thesales.
The story behind Labor Daystill impacts us today.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Americans eat about 7 billion hot dogs between
Memorial Day weekend and LaborDay.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You know, again, labor Day is one of those
Mondays that you get off andmost people don't really know
why.
Right, it's the end of thesummer and football season
started, so clean the barbecue.
Yeah, so I did a little bit ofresearch.
I was looking.
I found the the labordepartment's website has some
really good information on LaborDay, but I thought it would be
(01:35):
fun to talk to you a little bitabout it and get your insights,
especially since Labor Day wasso union, or you know it's so.
Union focused in how it allstarted and everything, and in
my world, in workers'compensation.
You know we talk to a lot ofrisk managers and people on the
employer side of things whoaren't always super jazzed about
(01:59):
working with labor.
Protagonists yeah, I mean I'mgoing to be really, really uh,
as even kill as possible.
We're not taking sides here.
But the reality is that thatlabor and employers are many
times at odds with each otherand so um and so sometimes like
the program that we have wherewe place injured workers into
(02:20):
non-profits for modified duty um, sometimes unions don't
understand it and so right awayaren't super jazzed about it,
but then we have other unions wework with that love it for
certain reasons.
So what can you tell us alittle bit about what you know
as a history teacher about LaborDay?
(02:40):
Like, what's it all about?
How did it start?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I mean, you have a whole history really,
really after the Civil War.
You know, before the Civil Waryou had this conflict of what
the focus was going to beeconomically between industry
and agriculture.
After the Civil War you knowthat obviously the South took a
hit and the North kind of caughtits stride.
We were obviously, 60 to 70years after, behind the British,
(03:06):
so to speak from an industrialstandpoint, right yeah thank you
from an industrial standpointand so.
but with the rapid accelerationthat occurs post civil war in
industry, with invention andaccessibility electricity, you
know, you don't have to be by awaterway anymore because that
(03:26):
used to be steam-powered.
Now you can kind of buildthings where you can get
electricity.
Obviously industry began toramp up and you have this
massive amount of people thatreally started coming in before
the Civil War.
When the Civil War is over theygo into the factories and now
they're working.
And so the business owners hadthis massive amount of labor.
(03:51):
And with that massive amount oflabor came, you know, the idea
that they, you know in part thatthey were dispensable.
You know, if somebody got hurtyou didn't really have to worry
about it because there was, youknow, 100 people waiting to get
that job.
And so there is kind of ahistory of business owners not
(04:12):
taking into account the laboraspect of their business.
You know it's like they knewthey needed workers but because
they had this massive amount ofworkers they just kind of
treated them as disposable.
You know there wasn't really alot of social capital studies
going around you know, likeknowing the mentality and
(04:32):
methodology, and so what beganto happen is just just what
normally happens like they'rebeing abused or misused and
collectively came together toform in one voice a pushback
against these business owners.
And you have these like hotspots that take place after the
(04:55):
Civil War.
The first great one and it's nolie, it's called the Great
Railroad Strike was, I believe,1877, which was a pushback
against Vanderbilt'snationalization of the railroad.
And you have this strike, andthis is kind of the continuous
thing, where government, thefederal government, sees the
(05:18):
business owners as the positiveor the ones that are being
affected negatively, and theworkers, as you know, this
ragtag group of people who aretrying to affect progress.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, follow the money, right.
I mean, where's the moneycoming from?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, yeah, yes, definitely during that time
there's a lot of money flowingthrough the Senate at that time,
which goes to a whole anotherevent that takes place in the
early 1900s.
But you have this history oflabor.
And now we can't discountwhat's going on globally either.
There's movements all over theworld, there's mindsets of, you
(05:57):
know, the proletariatbourgeoisie.
There's this underlying themethat's going on.
That really is kind ofilluminated by what a lot of
people are perceiving in America.
And then you'd have, you know,in a capitalist system you have
up and down economies, and thenthe business owners, when the
(06:18):
economy was good, they wouldhire people, people would work.
When the economy went bad, tocut costs, they reduced the
workforce.
And that, you know, when youhave a whole bunch of people
dependent on that work, you knowit goes down, the morale goes
down and the desire to betreated better comes up.
And so hence you have unions,but you have events.
(06:44):
One of them was the HaymarketSquare riot in Chicago, where I
believe it was the I don't thinkit was, it might've been
McCormick, I don't think it wasJohn Deere, but it was a farm
equipment factory.
They were making farm equipmentand they were having this big
display of disapproval about howthey were being treated.
And it was a very violent event.
(07:04):
I mean, there was, there werebombs going off, there were
people getting shot by thepolice in Chicago.
There was, there was a trialwhere you know some people were.
I believe there was a couplethat were hung and basically,
just you know, put on display,and a lot of people believe that
that's kind of where this seedof the Labor Day idea began to
(07:27):
grow.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It was about appreciation, though, right, it
was about appreciation for thework that people put in for, in
many cases, not necessarily thecompensation that they deserved,
right yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I mean.
But you have to remember too,though, you know a lot of people
that came here to work industry, even though they weren't
making a lot of money, they weremaking more money than most
people globally, you know, andthat, well, that was a trend for
a very long time, but it wasabout you know what?
Where are my protections?
You know where?
Where am I?
Where's my?
I mean, I guess nobody has jobsecurity, but where is there
(08:04):
like a net or a safety net tohelp me if I lose my job For no
reason?
Remember, these people aren'tlike lollygagging.
You know, they're workingseven-day weeks, they're working
massive amounts of hours,they're not slackers by any
stretch of the imagination, andyet they still have a high
propensity of, when the economygoes down, they lose their jobs.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You know and so you can.
Yeah, you know.
Whether you're pro or not prounion, you still kind of can
feel the concern of the worker.
Yeah, and so it was?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
it was almost like safety in numbers, right?
I mean, the unions were createdbecause I have more power if
it's 50 of me against the bossthan if it's just me against the
boss, right?
So it was about bringing peopletogether so that they had a
common cause and could fighttogether for the safety Like I
think about.
There was the.
(08:57):
I'm going to miss, I'm going tosay the wrong name, but there
was a fire at a textile mill inthe early triangle Sure Waste
factor.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yes, exactly Right, wrong name, but there was a fire
at a textile mill in the early90s, the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory.
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Right.
So I mean, we're not justtalking about, you know, crazy
hours that they were makingpeople work.
We're talking about, likelocking doors so people can't
get out, and then there's a fireand people burn to death Like
real stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Well, because you know in that story alone that's
early 1900s, I mean we'resteeped in what is then called
the progressive movement, whereactually we fast forward a
little bit because you havegovernment beginning to kind of
show sympathy, at least to anextent, to the labor movement,
and the man that does that isTheodore Roosevelt.
(09:39):
You know, theodore Roosevelt iskind of the first president
that kind of leans in.
There's a huge strike at theAnthracite coal mill I think
it's in Pennsylvania somewhereand there's this big argument
and fight between the owners ofthe mines and the people that
(10:02):
are actually going in to get thecoal and all they wanted was
really better pay and betterworking and that that kind of is
the trend better pay, betterworking conditions, shorter
hours.
And they wanted something tohappen.
And what had been the trend,you know, really up to this
point, is that the governmentkind of came in on the side of
the, you know, business owner.
(10:22):
And this is the first timereally in history where you have
a president, theodore Roosevelt, who acts as an arbiter, brings
in the head of the union andbrings in the head of the
ownership of the mine and sitsthem down at a table and goes
okay, how are we going to fixthis?
Because the country needs thecoal that you're mining.
And he found and you can readthis he found that the people
(10:47):
that would not budge were themine owners.
They just would not budge.
And the representative from theworkers was trying to make
things work.
And finally Roosevelt said look, and this is this, is this is a
huge step and makes meuncomfortable when I say this.
But Roosevelt goes look, we'lljust nationalize your mind,
(11:11):
we'll just take it over untilyou can figure out how to fix
this issue.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Right right.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
And eventually it works out.
I'm not personally a big fan ofnationalization, but you can
kind of understand roosevelt'sfrustration.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, at that point and in this this is a totally
different.
But I I remember back in the80s when, uh, the the airline
air traffic controllers went onstrike, right, because that's a
union, and um, and I rememberpresident reagan, because they
wouldn't settle, like fired allthe air traffic controllers.
I had an uncle that was an airtraffic controller and lost his
(11:47):
job.
Really good, really good gig hehad.
He would.
He he was in puerto rico, landin plains, as an air traffic.
I'm like talk about a cool gigand he, you know, obviously part
of the union, he sided with thefolks in the union and lost his
job.
But but that was another one ofthose situations, kind of like
the coal was like we need thesepeople in order to operate our
(12:08):
country.
Same thing with the coal backin those days.
And there's a lot of thingsgoing on right now.
You think about, like duringcovid, when the truck drivers
had their thing going on wherethey was up in Canada.
Yeah, remember that.
And I mean labor really has theability to shut down the
economy.
And I think we all learnedduring COVID everything
(12:30):
connected Right, you can't nothave trucking.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You can't not have gas because you don't have gas,
it turns into not having dinnertonight, right, you know so all
those things are straddlingsomething to your straddling
public sector versus privatesector, unionization, which is a
whole nother discussion.
You know you know the concernsabout.
You know if you're, if you're,private sector, yes, keeping
(12:56):
keeping private businessesaccountable, because they're
really only accountable tothemselves, but then, but then
on the on the public side, whoare you suing?
You know who are you puttingthe pressure on.
You know you're paidcompensating by the taxpayer.
You're, you know obviously yourconcern is who you're employed
by.
But in effect, you know, whoare you really holding, you know
(13:21):
, hostage?
I guess for lack of a betterword.
I guess you know that's the.
Again, when you go back to theReagan situation with the air
traffic controllers, you knowthat's a.
I believe that that was apublic sector issue and so it's,
you know.
Now you're talking aboutnavigating a whole other you
know situation, a whole otheryou know event.
(13:44):
So there's a lot, there's a lotof moving pieces.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, for sure what.
So I was doing a little bit ofresearch on on labor days and I,
as I think I mentioned I, wenton to the uh, the department of
labor website and um.
So they were talking about howlabor day, you know, um had
actually been recognized bycertain states, um before it
became a national holiday and um, the states kind of followed up
(14:08):
on each other and then ended upbecoming a national holiday.
I believe it was in the late1800s.
I saw some pictures of thefirst Labor Day.
I want to say it was like 1892.
Am I right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Close 1894.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Oh, okay, would I get credit for that?
I would give you.
You're close enough.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It's funny, though the picture looks almost like a
strike and like all thedifferent unions are represented
and they have their placardsand they're they're walking
along.
So so I guess you know.
As a kid I remember my parentssaying you know, labor Day, it's
the day that we celebrateworkers and working people in
the country, and that's.
That was really it.
I guess I didn't realize howrooted it was in in in unions
(14:48):
and and and that part of it.
So you know it's.
Is it surprising to you that,because it's become so political
, right, unions, non-unions Ifeel like you know we were
talking about comparativepolitics, right?
I don't know if that'ssomething that you cover in your
class or not.
I says that you know all aboutunions, so that's why I'm
throwing that out there to you.
(15:09):
Oh my gosh.
So much pressure so how do youlike so?
Do you think people don'tnecessarily care too much about
why Labor Day is here anymore,like we're just because we got a
Monday off?
Do you talk about that in yourclass?
Do you explain the backgroundbehind these things?
(15:31):
Do you just not have time?
It just seems like because it'sso political yeah, easy for me
to say politicized now that thatthere may be more questions
about well, how come we getLabor Day off but we don't have
this off?
You know it's, it's somethingthat's kind of accepted in our
country now.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Well, I mean we, you know, in my, in my US history
class I teach now the ace class.
You know, part of that, part ofthat study is labor.
I mean, the British, you know,the British write the curriculum
or whatever and they have theirown like history of Labor Day
and things like that.
But I think, I think theimportance of Labor Day is the
(16:09):
history of it.
I mean I can teach you withoutgetting into the politicized
aspect of today, because therewere benefits to it.
Now, the debate today is awhole other debate, but there is
no denying that without thelabor movement, you know,
starting with the Knights ofLabor and then the American
(16:29):
Federation of Labor, which isstill around today, they've
joined forces with the CIO, theCongress on Industrial
Organizations, I think that'swhat it's called, and so you
have the AFL-CIO, which is oneof the more powerful unions in
the country.
But without those organizations,I mean, you don't have things
like, like, uh, workers'compensation, um, uh,
(16:51):
unemployment, um, uh, you don't.
You don't have uh protections,you don't.
You don't have where the bosscan make you work, you know, 24
hours a day, you know, and yourwages went up, like I said and
earlier, and and so, and thesafety.
You brought up the TriangleShirtwaist Factory.
The safety, I mean, what was it?
I'm thinking the things arejust popping in my head now, but
(17:12):
the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, that was one of the most
horrific events and I believe inNew York City more people, I
think the next I got to say thiscorrectly it was the most
deaths in one event in New York.
It was the most events in oneevent in New York until 9-11.
(17:35):
I mean, it was that terrible.
And so you know they didn't havea fire department.
They didn't have, or at leastthey didn't have a ladder to
reach to the floor.
They didn't have fire escapes.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
They didn't have fire alarms.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
They didn't have fire alarms, all of these things,
you know, sometimes we just seethem as like safety measures,
but a lot of times they're labormeasures.
People are going to be workingin that building and they need
to feel there needs to be alevel of safety there.
And so even things like firealarm systems, sprinkler systems
.
You know you can giveappreciation to that early labor
(18:09):
movement.
Child labor restrictions.
You know it's.
There's no denying the factthat the labor movement and is
has been beneficial to everybodythat works has been beneficial
to everybody that works.
(18:33):
Whether you think it'sbeneficial now is totally up to
your politics, your ideology,but there is no real arguing
that the benefits that we see,the pressure that was put on
businesses, the pressure thatwas put on the government to
look after its citizens Listen,you go back to the Declaration
of Independence.
The government's responsibilityis to protect our life, liberty
and our pursuit of happiness.
(18:54):
Well, if people are dying onthe job because things aren't
safe, you know it's hard for meand I'm like middle center right
here it's hard for me to saythat government doesn't serve a
role in making sure people aresafe and if that means that
people have to use and honestlyTodd the right to assemble is a
First Amendment right.
And these workers, what theydid is they weren't doing
(19:18):
anything out of the Constitution, they weren't doing anything
extra, they were practicing aFirst Amendment right of
assembly and it paid offdividends for them and it wasn't
easy.
1894, that year that they madeit federal under Grover
Cleveland.
That was one of the worst laborunrest in American history.
(19:43):
It was in Pullman, illinois.
It was the Pullman Palace CarCompany, which did some great
things.
But George Pullman was one ofthese guys that wanted to
control everything.
I mean it was in PullmanIllinois.
The city was named after him,everything was in that city.
His workers had to live thereand while the economy was great,
(20:04):
everything was good.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
But when the?
Speaker 3 (20:06):
economy went down, he began to do what a lot of
owners did and the people pushedback.
But it was bloody, it wasdeadly and a lot of people
credit, not positively, butcredit that event with the push
for a national day to celebratelabor.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
National Day to celebrate labor.
So we we talked a little bitabout Memorial Day, some of the
things that you can do to kindof remember what Memorial Day
was all about.
Right, it wasn't necessarily acelebration.
It was a time to remember, givethanks, what are some things
you know, if people really wantto understand what Labor Day was
in a couple of weeks, a coupleof Mondays no-transcript.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I don't want to sound superficial, but take a look at
your paycheck.
I mean, you know it's.
You know I don't know howpaychecks look everywhere else,
but I know in my paycheck I seewhat I made my gross.
And then I look over and I seethe money that comes out for
insurance and dental and allthis stuff.
And none of that, none of thatexists without some kind of
(21:17):
pushback.
You know, without telling theemployer or employee that listen
, if you want a happy workforceor if you want a workforce
that's going to work for you andstay, there's certain things
that you have to implement youknow, that you have to do in
order to keep that Look aroundwhere you work.
You know, If you don't have thesafety mechanisms that are
(21:38):
supposed to exist, then you needto take a step to do something
about that, you know, Like airconditioning, right?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
It's August in Florida.
Can you imagine we're nottalking about air conditioning
right now?
It's been working.
Knock on wood.
Oh yeah, that's right.
Yeah, Hillsborough CountySchools, yeah, air conditioning.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Well, yeah, seriously , air conditioning the number of
hours you work.
Sometimes you don't know whatyou got until it's gone, you
know, and so, but that goes backto knowing history.
You know, I can't imagine.
You know my family a fewgenerations ago were driving a
train in West Virginia, new York, working with the coal and, and
(22:17):
many of them, you know, gotblack lung and they they just
lived, they looked like raw,they looked rough.
But, todd, I mean you can seeboth of us.
We still look pretty good, youknow and.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm, I'm, I'm almost 50, you know, I'm with that, sir
, brother, your age out there.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
But it's.
But can you?
You, I mean you look at some ofthese pictures from like the
1900s, late 1890s yeah, peoplelooked terrible.
And you look at the kids, likesometimes I'll put a picture up
and and this is, this isprobably awful, but I'll put
pictures up, uh, of like uparound the cities and kids
working and stuff like that, andthen you gotta.
Then you got like I have apicture of three kids on a smoke
(22:58):
break, yeah, and I go, I go nowI go now, this is not the
bathroom.
Yeah, I'm like this is not thebathroom award, this is 19,.
You know, early 1900s,literally, kids taking a smoke
break before they go back intothe mind, you know, and look
what you got.
You get to go sit in school,which you don't think maybe is a
(23:19):
good thing or an importantthing.
But there's other places youcould be.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, yeah, you know, you could be digging coal in
West Virginia.
At what?
12, 13 years old, yeah, or?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
look at yourself in comparison to some of the stuff
that's going on around the worldright now, where you have kids
in mines doing doing the verythings that we were doing back
in the late 18, early 1900s, andand get a perspective on the
benefits of the movement, thebenefits of history, the
benefits of living in thiscountry.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, you know that's a great perspective on it.
That that's really good.
That's really good.
So I I pulled a couple ofquestions off the labor website
and I figured we'd roll reversehere and see how the teacher
does on some labor.
It's the from the from thewebsite from the US Department
(24:10):
of Labor website.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
OK.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Are you game?
See, I didn't even.
Yeah, I'm game.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I mean I'm game, I mean my Internet might go out.
The question is to do.
But I'm game, I mean myInternet might go out.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
The question is too too, but I'm game.
Yeah, OK, ok, ok, I bet you getthis one.
Which president?
So this isn't Labor Day, thisis the Department of Labor, so
you know it's kind of jives.
Which president signed the actthat created the US Department
of Labor?
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Oh wow, I was hoping you were saying what president.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
You already said that one.
It's Grover Cleveland.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
You didn't give me a softball at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Do you want to hear it?
I can give you a hint no, no,no.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Hang on, I'm thinking , I'm thinking, I'm thinking.
Department of.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Labor.
It was at the very end of his.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
It wasn't Woodrow Wilson, was it.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It was not A little bit before him.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Before him.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, it was 1913.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Oh, that would be.
Oh, shoot, william Howard Taft.
Yeah, that's it.
It was at the very end of histenure as president Taft created
the.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
US Department of Labor.
Yeah, because he was more of abusiness guy, wasn't he?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Well he was, it's sad to say.
He was like Roosevelt'sdisappointment.
It was one of the rare timesthat a president like Roosevelt
was so popular that he was ableto appoint basically nominate
his own successor, right.
But.
But the reason I'm interestedin that is because Taft Taft was
(25:46):
a little more conservative thanRoosevelt was yeah, right he
did go after.
He did go after the.
A lot of businesses like wecall.
We call Roosevelt the trustbuster because he went after the
trust.
A lot of businesses like wecall.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
We call Roosevelt the trust buster, cause he went
after the trust and that tappedactually.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, teddy, I'm sorry, teddy Roosevelt, um, but
tapped actually, uh, took downmore than than Roosevelt did,
and uh, and so maybe, maybe Ishouldn't be surprised by that.
You know that he, he, uh, uh,established a department of
labor.
Um, that's, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I got two more, though, oh no.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Here's the softball.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
What are the two big standards that were created by
the Fair Labor Standards Act in1938?
And there's probably a ton, butthere's two big ones.
Two big ones.
It's kind of what you talkedabout.
You talked about the thingsthat we take for granted today,
that are part of our normal workwork environment 38.
(26:47):
You said yeah 1938 fair laborstandards act.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So that was like new deal yeah, we talked a little
bit about this.
Franklin roosevelt I.
Why was it?
Uh, was it maybe one of thebread butter?
Things like the hours work likeeight hour work day.
Yep, 40 hour work week, that'sone of them okay, yeah, right on
, and yeah and and maybe, um, Idon't think it was, it wasn't
(27:16):
minimum wage, was it?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
no?
No, it was minimum wage.
It was Yay, you're two for two.
Give yourself some credit.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
That one should count as two.
Yeah, I should be two for three.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
There you go.
You're two for three.
You got it.
This is a good one.
Okay, what do Montel Williams,carol O'Connor, johnny Cash,
batman, the Adam West version ofBatman and the Flintstones all
have in common?
(27:45):
Think Department of.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Labor wow, Adam Montel Williams.
How does Montel Williams feelabout it?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
there's more I could have added to this list too.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Oh really, there's a whole list.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Oh yeah, there's a whole list.
You want the answer?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Hang on.
Hang on the Flintstones.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
The Flintstones, montel and Johnny Cash Batman.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Copyright or something you ready, I don't
know.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Maybe they had labor violations or something you
ready.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Maybe they had labor violations or something I'm dead
?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I don't know.
They all appeared in labordepartment PSAs.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Oh, come on.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
How am I supposed to know that I don't know?
You're not, I've never seen adepartment of.
I bet you have.
Because it all leads into whatI wanted to share, and hopefully
this is going to work.
If not, I'll just edit it in.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Are these like the Saturday morning or cartoon PSAs
or something?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Pretty similar.
You can see my screen now maybe.
Oh my gosh.
Yes, yes, I see Adam.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
West up there in the old.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
The Savings Bond one I remember that one.
But this is hilarious.
The savings bond one.
I remember that one, but thisis hilarious.
So this is the Adam West LaborDepartment PSA.
Bat Girl is complaining thatshe doesn't get paid as much as
Robin does.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Oh my God, this is awesome.
I think I've seen this in ameme.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
You ready oh?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
no yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Here we go.
This is 30 seconds of your lifehere.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, a ticking bomb means trouble for Batman and
Robin.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Holy breaking and entering it's Batgirl, rick
Batgirl, untie us before it'stoo late.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
It's already too late .
I've worked for you a long timeand I'm paid less than Robin.
Same job, same employer meansequal pay for men and women.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
No time for jokes.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Batgirl, it's no joke .
It's the federal equal pay law,holy act of congress.
If you're not getting equal pay, contact the wage and hour
division.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Us department of labor there you go you know, I
holy act of congress batman, Iholy act I have to.
I have to confess, the onlytime I've seen that yeah, is
they stop at Batman saying don'tbe silly Batgirl, and then they
stop the commercial.
So I did not know that therewas a rest of that commercial.
(30:07):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
That's terrific.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, I thought that was fun.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
So you did great.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You did great for not knowing the questions coming up
, and at least you give yourkids a chance to study.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yes, yes, I got to spend more time on the
Department of Labor website, Iguess.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Oh boy, I'll tell you what it's.
Something else.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Riveting it is.
It's awesome Well listen.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Chad, thank you for your time today.
It was really insightful and, Ithink, really gave us some new
perspective on the importance ofLabor Day and the union thing
and all the real benefits thateven folks that work in offices
benefit from what unions havedone in the past.
And still, there's stilldefinitely a role for unions in
(30:51):
what it is that this countrydoes, because it's like a
pendulum right Things swing inone direction and then they
swing in another, and it's agood thing that we have checks
and balances on both sides tomake sure things continue to go
as smoothly as they possibly can.
So great.
What's the next holiday we'regoing to talk about?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Let's see what do we have coming?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
up what's after Labor Day?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Oh hello, veterans Day, memorial Day, I think,
isn't it no?
Speaker 2 (31:19):
no, we could.
Veterans Day is coming up inNovember.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Veterans Day is in November.
Maybe we can do that I am not.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I'm not going to touch Columbus Day, though, so
just just saying that would befun.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Would it be fun?
Yeah, I don't like to learnmore.
Show both sides of the show.
Both sides of the argument.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
You know sure, For sure.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
That's what I do for a living, so we can do it.
I love it.
Thank you, all right.
Thank you, todd.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
The best part of Labor Day is the opportunity to
honor and celebrate thecontributions of workers to the
strength, prosperity andprogress of the country.
It is also a time to enjoypicnics and outdoor activities
with family and friends.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Thanks for listening to REA Audio.
Please make sure to follow uson Spotify or Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher or wherever you getyour podcasts.
We appreciate you.
Have a great rest of your week.
We'll see you next time.
perspective.
Perspective is spelled p e, r,s, p, e, c t I v e perspective.
The 30 000 foot viewperspective put on someone
else's shoes.
Perspective can also refer tothe state of existing in space
(00:20):
or one's view of the world.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Perspective rea audio space or one's view of the
world.
Perspective.
Rea Audio Reemployability.
Well, you're probably alreadywriting your out-of-office
message and getting your boat,maybe your barbecue, ready,
maybe you'll go buy somefurniture or maybe a car this
weekend.
Perhaps this is the weekendthat you finish your school
shopping.
In Florida and a bunch of otherstates it's the first day off
(00:43):
for students and teachers of theyear.
You got?
It're talking about labor day,the first monday of every
september, where we officiallyclose out summer and start
seeing christmas decorations inthe stores.
Well, I invited my favoritehigh school teacher and good
friend, chad reed, to join usthis episode to talk about the
history behind labor day and whywe should be more grateful for
(01:03):
this holiday than just for thesales.
The story behind Labor Daystill impacts us today.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Americans eat about 7 billion hot dogs between
Memorial Day weekend and LaborDay.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You know, again, labor Day is one of those
Mondays that you get off andmost people don't really know
why.
Right, it's the end of thesummer and football season
started, so clean the barbecue.
Yeah, so I did a little bit ofresearch.
I was looking.
I found the the labordepartment's website has some
really good information on LaborDay, but I thought it would be
(01:35):
fun to talk to you a little bitabout it and get your insights,
especially since Labor Day wasso union, or you know it's so.
Union focused in how it allstarted and everything, and in
my world, in workers'compensation.
You know we talk to a lot ofrisk managers and people on the
employer side of things whoaren't always super jazzed about
(01:59):
working with labor.
Protagonists yeah, I mean I'mgoing to be really, really uh,
as even kill as possible.
We're not taking sides here.
But the reality is that thatlabor and employers are many
times at odds with each otherand so um and so sometimes like
the program that we have wherewe place injured workers into
(02:20):
non-profits for modified duty um, sometimes unions don't
understand it and so right awayaren't super jazzed about it,
but then we have other unions wework with that love it for
certain reasons.
So what can you tell us alittle bit about what you know
as a history teacher about LaborDay?
(02:40):
Like, what's it all about?
How did it start?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I mean, you have a whole history really,
really after the Civil War.
You know, before the Civil Waryou had this conflict of what
the focus was going to beeconomically between industry
and agriculture.
After the Civil War you knowthat obviously the South took a
hit and the North kind of caughtits stride.
We were obviously, 60 to 70years after, behind the British,
(03:06):
so to speak from an industrialstandpoint, right yeah thank you
from an industrial standpointand so.
but with the rapid accelerationthat occurs post civil war in
industry, with invention andaccessibility electricity, you
know, you don't have to be by awaterway anymore because that
(03:26):
used to be steam-powered.
Now you can kind of buildthings where you can get
electricity.
Obviously industry began toramp up and you have this
massive amount of people thatreally started coming in before
the Civil War.
When the Civil War is over theygo into the factories and now
they're working.
And so the business owners hadthis massive amount of labor.
(03:51):
And with that massive amount oflabor came, you know, the idea
that they, you know in part thatthey were dispensable.
You know, if somebody got hurtyou didn't really have to worry
about it because there was, youknow, 100 people waiting to get
that job.
And so there is kind of ahistory of business owners not
(04:12):
taking into account the laboraspect of their business.
You know it's like they knewthey needed workers but because
they had this massive amount ofworkers they just kind of
treated them as disposable.
You know there wasn't really alot of social capital studies
going around you know, likeknowing the mentality and
(04:32):
methodology, and so what beganto happen is just just what
normally happens like they'rebeing abused or misused and
collectively came together toform in one voice a pushback
against these business owners.
And you have these like hotspots that take place after the
(04:55):
Civil War.
The first great one and it's nolie, it's called the Great
Railroad Strike was, I believe,1877, which was a pushback
against Vanderbilt'snationalization of the railroad.
And you have this strike, andthis is kind of the continuous
thing, where government, thefederal government, sees the
(05:18):
business owners as the positiveor the ones that are being
affected negatively, and theworkers, as you know, this
ragtag group of people who aretrying to affect progress.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, follow the money, right.
I mean, where's the moneycoming from?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, yeah, yes, definitely during that time
there's a lot of money flowingthrough the Senate at that time,
which goes to a whole anotherevent that takes place in the
early 1900s.
But you have this history oflabor.
And now we can't discountwhat's going on globally either.
There's movements all over theworld, there's mindsets of, you
(05:57):
know, the proletariatbourgeoisie.
There's this underlying themethat's going on.
That really is kind ofilluminated by what a lot of
people are perceiving in America.
And then you'd have, you know,in a capitalist system you have
up and down economies, and thenthe business owners, when the
(06:18):
economy was good, they wouldhire people, people would work.
When the economy went bad, tocut costs, they reduced the
workforce.
And that, you know, when youhave a whole bunch of people
dependent on that work, you knowit goes down, the morale goes
down and the desire to betreated better comes up.
And so hence you have unions,but you have events.
(06:44):
One of them was the HaymarketSquare riot in Chicago, where I
believe it was the I don't thinkit was, it might've been
McCormick, I don't think it wasJohn Deere, but it was a farm
equipment factory.
They were making farm equipmentand they were having this big
display of disapproval about howthey were being treated.
And it was a very violent event.
(07:04):
I mean, there was, there werebombs going off, there were
people getting shot by thepolice in Chicago.
There was, there was a trialwhere you know some people were.
I believe there was a couplethat were hung and basically,
just you know, put on display,and a lot of people believe that
that's kind of where this seedof the Labor Day idea began to
(07:27):
grow.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It was about appreciation, though, right, it
was about appreciation for thework that people put in for, in
many cases, not necessarily thecompensation that they deserved,
right yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I mean.
But you have to remember too,though, you know a lot of people
that came here to work industry, even though they weren't
making a lot of money, they weremaking more money than most
people globally, you know, andthat, well, that was a trend for
a very long time, but it wasabout you know what?
Where are my protections?
You know where?
Where am I?
Where's my?
I mean, I guess nobody has jobsecurity, but where is there
(08:04):
like a net or a safety net tohelp me if I lose my job For no
reason?
Remember, these people aren'tlike lollygagging.
You know, they're workingseven-day weeks, they're working
massive amounts of hours,they're not slackers by any
stretch of the imagination, andyet they still have a high
propensity of, when the economygoes down, they lose their jobs.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You know and so you can.
Yeah, you know.
Whether you're pro or not prounion, you still kind of can
feel the concern of the worker.
Yeah, and so it was?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
it was almost like safety in numbers, right?
I mean, the unions were createdbecause I have more power if
it's 50 of me against the bossthan if it's just me against the
boss, right?
So it was about bringing peopletogether so that they had a
common cause and could fighttogether for the safety Like I
think about.
There was the.
(08:57):
I'm going to miss, I'm going tosay the wrong name, but there
was a fire at a textile mill inthe early triangle Sure Waste
factor.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yes, exactly Right, wrong name, but there was a fire
at a textile mill in the early90s, the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory.
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Right.
So I mean, we're not justtalking about, you know, crazy
hours that they were makingpeople work.
We're talking about, likelocking doors so people can't
get out, and then there's a fireand people burn to death Like
real stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Well, because you know in that story alone that's
early 1900s, I mean we'resteeped in what is then called
the progressive movement, whereactually we fast forward a
little bit because you havegovernment beginning to kind of
show sympathy, at least to anextent, to the labor movement,
and the man that does that isTheodore Roosevelt.
(09:39):
You know, theodore Roosevelt iskind of the first president
that kind of leans in.
There's a huge strike at theAnthracite coal mill I think
it's in Pennsylvania somewhereand there's this big argument
and fight between the owners ofthe mines and the people that
(10:02):
are actually going in to get thecoal and all they wanted was
really better pay and betterworking and that that kind of is
the trend better pay, betterworking conditions, shorter
hours.
And they wanted something tohappen.
And what had been the trend,you know, really up to this
point, is that the governmentkind of came in on the side of
the, you know, business owner.
(10:22):
And this is the first timereally in history where you have
a president, theodore Roosevelt, who acts as an arbiter, brings
in the head of the union andbrings in the head of the
ownership of the mine and sitsthem down at a table and goes
okay, how are we going to fixthis?
Because the country needs thecoal that you're mining.
And he found and you can readthis he found that the people
(10:47):
that would not budge were themine owners.
They just would not budge.
And the representative from theworkers was trying to make
things work.
And finally Roosevelt said look, and this is this, is this is a
huge step and makes meuncomfortable when I say this.
But Roosevelt goes look, we'lljust nationalize your mind,
(11:11):
we'll just take it over untilyou can figure out how to fix
this issue.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Right right.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
And eventually it works out.
I'm not personally a big fan ofnationalization, but you can
kind of understand roosevelt'sfrustration.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, at that point and in this this is a totally
different.
But I I remember back in the80s when, uh, the the airline
air traffic controllers went onstrike, right, because that's a
union, and um, and I rememberpresident reagan, because they
wouldn't settle, like fired allthe air traffic controllers.
I had an uncle that was an airtraffic controller and lost his
(11:47):
job.
Really good, really good gig hehad.
He would.
He he was in puerto rico, landin plains, as an air traffic.
I'm like talk about a cool gigand he, you know, obviously part
of the union, he sided with thefolks in the union and lost his
job.
But but that was another one ofthose situations, kind of like
the coal was like we need thesepeople in order to operate our
(12:08):
country.
Same thing with the coal backin those days.
And there's a lot of thingsgoing on right now.
You think about, like duringcovid, when the truck drivers
had their thing going on wherethey was up in Canada.
Yeah, remember that.
And I mean labor really has theability to shut down the
economy.
And I think we all learnedduring COVID everything
(12:30):
connected Right, you can't nothave trucking.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You can't not have gas because you don't have gas,
it turns into not having dinnertonight, right, you know so all
those things are straddlingsomething to your straddling
public sector versus privatesector, unionization, which is a
whole nother discussion.
You know you know the concernsabout.
You know if you're, if you're,private sector, yes, keeping
(12:56):
keeping private businessesaccountable, because they're
really only accountable tothemselves, but then, but then
on the on the public side, whoare you suing?
You know who are you puttingthe pressure on.
You know you're paidcompensating by the taxpayer.
You're, you know obviously yourconcern is who you're employed
by.
But in effect, you know, whoare you really holding, you know
(13:21):
, hostage?
I guess for lack of a betterword.
I guess you know that's the.
Again, when you go back to theReagan situation with the air
traffic controllers, you knowthat's a.
I believe that that was apublic sector issue and so it's,
you know.
Now you're talking aboutnavigating a whole other you
know situation, a whole otheryou know event.
(13:44):
So there's a lot, there's a lotof moving pieces.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, for sure what.
So I was doing a little bit ofresearch on on labor days and I,
as I think I mentioned I, wenton to the uh, the department of
labor website and um.
So they were talking about howlabor day, you know, um had
actually been recognized bycertain states, um before it
became a national holiday and um, the states kind of followed up
(14:08):
on each other and then ended upbecoming a national holiday.
I believe it was in the late1800s.
I saw some pictures of thefirst Labor Day.
I want to say it was like 1892.
Am I right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Close 1894.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Oh, okay, would I get credit for that?
I would give you.
You're close enough.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It's funny, though the picture looks almost like a
strike and like all thedifferent unions are represented
and they have their placardsand they're they're walking
along.
So so I guess you know.
As a kid I remember my parentssaying you know, labor Day, it's
the day that we celebrateworkers and working people in
the country, and that's.
That was really it.
I guess I didn't realize howrooted it was in in in unions
(14:48):
and and and that part of it.
So you know it's.
Is it surprising to you that,because it's become so political
, right, unions, non-unions Ifeel like you know we were
talking about comparativepolitics, right?
I don't know if that'ssomething that you cover in your
class or not.
I says that you know all aboutunions, so that's why I'm
throwing that out there to you.
(15:09):
Oh my gosh.
So much pressure so how do youlike so?
Do you think people don'tnecessarily care too much about
why Labor Day is here anymore,like we're just because we got a
Monday off?
Do you talk about that in yourclass?
Do you explain the backgroundbehind these things?
(15:31):
Do you just not have time?
It just seems like because it'sso political yeah, easy for me
to say politicized now that thatthere may be more questions
about well, how come we getLabor Day off but we don't have
this off?
You know it's, it's somethingthat's kind of accepted in our
country now.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Well, I mean we, you know, in my, in my US history
class I teach now the ace class.
You know, part of that, part ofthat study is labor.
I mean, the British, you know,the British write the curriculum
or whatever and they have theirown like history of Labor Day
and things like that.
But I think, I think theimportance of Labor Day is the
(16:09):
history of it.
I mean I can teach you withoutgetting into the politicized
aspect of today, because therewere benefits to it.
Now, the debate today is awhole other debate, but there is
no denying that without thelabor movement, you know,
starting with the Knights ofLabor and then the American
(16:29):
Federation of Labor, which isstill around today, they've
joined forces with the CIO, theCongress on Industrial
Organizations, I think that'swhat it's called, and so you
have the AFL-CIO, which is oneof the more powerful unions in
the country.
But without those organizations,I mean, you don't have things
like, like, uh, workers'compensation, um, uh,
(16:51):
unemployment, um, uh, you don't.
You don't have uh protections,you don't.
You don't have where the bosscan make you work, you know, 24
hours a day, you know, and yourwages went up, like I said and
earlier, and and so, and thesafety.
You brought up the TriangleShirtwaist Factory.
The safety, I mean, what was it?
I'm thinking the things arejust popping in my head now, but
(17:12):
the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, that was one of the most
horrific events and I believe inNew York City more people, I
think the next I got to say thiscorrectly it was the most
deaths in one event in New York.
It was the most events in oneevent in New York until 9-11.
(17:35):
I mean, it was that terrible.
And so you know they didn't havea fire department.
They didn't have, or at leastthey didn't have a ladder to
reach to the floor.
They didn't have fire escapes.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
They didn't have fire alarms.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
They didn't have fire alarms, all of these things,
you know, sometimes we just seethem as like safety measures,
but a lot of times they're labormeasures.
People are going to be workingin that building and they need
to feel there needs to be alevel of safety there.
And so even things like firealarm systems, sprinkler systems
.
You know you can giveappreciation to that early labor
(18:09):
movement.
Child labor restrictions.
You know it's.
There's no denying the factthat the labor movement and is
has been beneficial to everybodythat works has been beneficial
to everybody that works.
(18:33):
Whether you think it'sbeneficial now is totally up to
your politics, your ideology,but there is no real arguing
that the benefits that we see,the pressure that was put on
businesses, the pressure thatwas put on the government to
look after its citizens Listen,you go back to the Declaration
of Independence.
The government's responsibilityis to protect our life, liberty
and our pursuit of happiness.
(18:54):
Well, if people are dying onthe job because things aren't
safe, you know it's hard for meand I'm like middle center right
here it's hard for me to saythat government doesn't serve a
role in making sure people aresafe and if that means that
people have to use and honestlyTodd the right to assemble is a
First Amendment right.
And these workers, what theydid is they weren't doing
(19:18):
anything out of the Constitution, they weren't doing anything
extra, they were practicing aFirst Amendment right of
assembly and it paid offdividends for them and it wasn't
easy.
1894, that year that they madeit federal under Grover
Cleveland.
That was one of the worst laborunrest in American history.
(19:43):
It was in Pullman, illinois.
It was the Pullman Palace CarCompany, which did some great
things.
But George Pullman was one ofthese guys that wanted to
control everything.
I mean it was in PullmanIllinois.
The city was named after him,everything was in that city.
His workers had to live thereand while the economy was great,
(20:04):
everything was good.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
But when the?
Speaker 3 (20:06):
economy went down, he began to do what a lot of
owners did and the people pushedback.
But it was bloody, it wasdeadly and a lot of people
credit, not positively, butcredit that event with the push
for a national day to celebratelabor.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
National Day to celebrate labor.
So we we talked a little bitabout Memorial Day, some of the
things that you can do to kindof remember what Memorial Day
was all about.
Right, it wasn't necessarily acelebration.
It was a time to remember, givethanks, what are some things
you know, if people really wantto understand what Labor Day was
in a couple of weeks, a coupleof Mondays no-transcript.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I don't want to sound superficial, but take a look at
your paycheck.
I mean, you know it's.
You know I don't know howpaychecks look everywhere else,
but I know in my paycheck I seewhat I made my gross.
And then I look over and I seethe money that comes out for
insurance and dental and allthis stuff.
And none of that, none of thatexists without some kind of
(21:17):
pushback.
You know, without telling theemployer or employee that listen
, if you want a happy workforceor if you want a workforce
that's going to work for you andstay, there's certain things
that you have to implement youknow, that you have to do in
order to keep that Look aroundwhere you work.
You know, If you don't have thesafety mechanisms that are
(21:38):
supposed to exist, then you needto take a step to do something
about that, you know, Like airconditioning, right?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
It's August in Florida.
Can you imagine we're nottalking about air conditioning
right now?
It's been working.
Knock on wood.
Oh yeah, that's right.
Yeah, Hillsborough CountySchools, yeah, air conditioning.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Well, yeah, seriously , air conditioning the number of
hours you work.
Sometimes you don't know whatyou got until it's gone, you
know, and so, but that goes backto knowing history.
You know, I can't imagine.
You know my family a fewgenerations ago were driving a
train in West Virginia, new York, working with the coal and, and
(22:17):
many of them, you know, gotblack lung and they they just
lived, they looked like raw,they looked rough.
But, todd, I mean you can seeboth of us.
We still look pretty good, youknow and.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm, I'm, I'm almost 50, you know, I'm with that, sir
, brother, your age out there.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
But it's.
But can you?
You, I mean you look at some ofthese pictures from like the
1900s, late 1890s yeah, peoplelooked terrible.
And you look at the kids, likesometimes I'll put a picture up
and and this is, this isprobably awful, but I'll put
pictures up, uh, of like uparound the cities and kids
working and stuff like that, andthen you gotta.
Then you got like I have apicture of three kids on a smoke
(22:58):
break, yeah, and I go, I go nowI go now, this is not the
bathroom.
Yeah, I'm like this is not thebathroom award, this is 19,.
You know, early 1900s,literally, kids taking a smoke
break before they go back intothe mind, you know, and look
what you got.
You get to go sit in school,which you don't think maybe is a
(23:19):
good thing or an importantthing.
But there's other places youcould be.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, yeah, you know, you could be digging coal in
West Virginia.
At what?
12, 13 years old, yeah, or?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
look at yourself in comparison to some of the stuff
that's going on around the worldright now, where you have kids
in mines doing doing the verythings that we were doing back
in the late 18, early 1900s, andand get a perspective on the
benefits of the movement, thebenefits of history, the
benefits of living in thiscountry.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, you know that's a great perspective on it.
That that's really good.
That's really good.
So I I pulled a couple ofquestions off the labor website
and I figured we'd roll reversehere and see how the teacher
does on some labor.
It's the from the from thewebsite from the US Department
(24:10):
of Labor website.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
OK.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Are you game?
See, I didn't even.
Yeah, I'm game.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I mean I'm game, I mean my Internet might go out.
The question is to do.
But I'm game, I mean myInternet might go out.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
The question is too too, but I'm game.
Yeah, OK, ok, ok, I bet you getthis one.
Which president?
So this isn't Labor Day, thisis the Department of Labor, so
you know it's kind of jives.
Which president signed the actthat created the US Department
of Labor?
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Oh wow, I was hoping you were saying what president.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
You already said that one.
It's Grover Cleveland.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
You didn't give me a softball at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Do you want to hear it?
I can give you a hint no, no,no.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Hang on, I'm thinking , I'm thinking, I'm thinking.
Department of.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Labor.
It was at the very end of his.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
It wasn't Woodrow Wilson, was it.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It was not A little bit before him.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Before him.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, it was 1913.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Oh, that would be.
Oh, shoot, william Howard Taft.
Yeah, that's it.
It was at the very end of histenure as president Taft created
the.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
US Department of Labor.
Yeah, because he was more of abusiness guy, wasn't he?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Well he was, it's sad to say.
He was like Roosevelt'sdisappointment.
It was one of the rare timesthat a president like Roosevelt
was so popular that he was ableto appoint basically nominate
his own successor, right.
But.
But the reason I'm interestedin that is because Taft Taft was
(25:46):
a little more conservative thanRoosevelt was yeah, right he
did go after.
He did go after the.
A lot of businesses like wecall.
We call Roosevelt the trustbuster because he went after the
trust.
A lot of businesses like wecall.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
We call Roosevelt the trust buster, cause he went
after the trust and that tappedactually.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, teddy, I'm sorry, teddy Roosevelt, um, but
tapped actually, uh, took downmore than than Roosevelt did,
and uh, and so maybe, maybe Ishouldn't be surprised by that.
You know that he, he, uh, uh,established a department of
labor.
Um, that's, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I got two more, though, oh no.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Here's the softball.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
What are the two big standards that were created by
the Fair Labor Standards Act in1938?
And there's probably a ton, butthere's two big ones.
Two big ones.
It's kind of what you talkedabout.
You talked about the thingsthat we take for granted today,
that are part of our normal workwork environment 38.
(26:47):
You said yeah 1938 fair laborstandards act.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So that was like new deal yeah, we talked a little
bit about this.
Franklin roosevelt I.
Why was it?
Uh, was it maybe one of thebread butter?
Things like the hours work likeeight hour work day.
Yep, 40 hour work week, that'sone of them okay, yeah, right on
, and yeah and and maybe, um, Idon't think it was, it wasn't
(27:16):
minimum wage, was it?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
no?
No, it was minimum wage.
It was Yay, you're two for two.
Give yourself some credit.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
That one should count as two.
Yeah, I should be two for three.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
There you go.
You're two for three.
You got it.
This is a good one.
Okay, what do Montel Williams,carol O'Connor, johnny Cash,
batman, the Adam West version ofBatman and the Flintstones all
have in common?
(27:45):
Think Department of.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Labor wow, Adam Montel Williams.
How does Montel Williams feelabout it?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
there's more I could have added to this list too.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Oh really, there's a whole list.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Oh yeah, there's a whole list.
You want the answer?
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Hang on.
Hang on the Flintstones.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
The Flintstones, montel and Johnny Cash Batman.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Copyright or something you ready, I don't
know.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Maybe they had labor violations or something you
ready.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Maybe they had labor violations or something I'm dead
?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I don't know.
They all appeared in labordepartment PSAs.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Oh, come on.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
How am I supposed to know that I don't know?
You're not, I've never seen adepartment of.
I bet you have.
Because it all leads into whatI wanted to share, and hopefully
this is going to work.
If not, I'll just edit it in.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Are these like the Saturday morning or cartoon PSAs
or something?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Pretty similar.
You can see my screen now maybe.
Oh my gosh.
Yes, yes, I see Adam.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
West up there in the old.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
The Savings Bond one I remember that one.
But this is hilarious.
The savings bond one.
I remember that one, but thisis hilarious.
So this is the Adam West LaborDepartment PSA.
Bat Girl is complaining thatshe doesn't get paid as much as
Robin does.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Oh my God, this is awesome.
I think I've seen this in ameme.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
You ready oh?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
no yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Here we go.
This is 30 seconds of your lifehere.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, a ticking bomb means trouble for Batman and
Robin.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Holy breaking and entering it's Batgirl, rick
Batgirl, untie us before it'stoo late.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
It's already too late .
I've worked for you a long timeand I'm paid less than Robin.
Same job, same employer meansequal pay for men and women.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
No time for jokes.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Batgirl, it's no joke .
It's the federal equal pay law,holy act of congress.
If you're not getting equal pay, contact the wage and hour
division.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Us department of labor there you go you know, I
holy act of congress batman, Iholy act I have to.
I have to confess, the onlytime I've seen that yeah, is
they stop at Batman saying don'tbe silly Batgirl, and then they
stop the commercial.
So I did not know that therewas a rest of that commercial.
(30:07):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
That's terrific.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, I thought that was fun.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
So you did great.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You did great for not knowing the questions coming up
, and at least you give yourkids a chance to study.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yes, yes, I got to spend more time on the
Department of Labor website, Iguess.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Oh boy, I'll tell you what it's.
Something else.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Riveting it is.
It's awesome Well listen.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Chad, thank you for your time today.
It was really insightful and, Ithink, really gave us some new
perspective on the importance ofLabor Day and the union thing
and all the real benefits thateven folks that work in offices
benefit from what unions havedone in the past.
And still, there's stilldefinitely a role for unions in
(30:51):
what it is that this countrydoes, because it's like a
pendulum right Things swing inone direction and then they
swing in another, and it's agood thing that we have checks
and balances on both sides tomake sure things continue to go
as smoothly as they possibly can.
So great.
What's the next holiday we'regoing to talk about?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Let's see what do we have coming?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
up what's after Labor Day?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Oh hello, veterans Day, memorial Day, I think,
isn't it no?
Speaker 2 (31:19):
no, we could.
Veterans Day is coming up inNovember.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Veterans Day is in November.
Maybe we can do that I am not.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
I'm not going to touch Columbus Day, though, so
just just saying that would befun.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Would it be fun?
Yeah, I don't like to learnmore.
Show both sides of the show.
Both sides of the argument.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
You know sure, For sure.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
That's what I do for a living, so we can do it.
I love it.
Thank you, all right.
Thank you, todd.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
The best part of Labor Day is the opportunity to
honor and celebrate thecontributions of workers to the
strength, prosperity andprogress of the country.
It is also a time to enjoypicnics and outdoor activities
with family and friends.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Thanks for listening to REA Audio.
Please make sure to follow uson Spotify or Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher or wherever you getyour podcasts.
We appreciate you.
Have a great rest of your week.
We'll see you next time.
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