A century’s labor

FOR MOST OF OUR 125-YEAR HISTORY, The Times has used Labor Day as an occasion to publish a blistering attack on labor unions. Not until the 1960s, when Publisher Otis Chandler led a shift in editorial philosophy, did The Times begin to take a more considerate, as well as more temperate, approach.

The venom and moral certitude of some of The Times’ early editorials would make even the most partisan blogger blush. But these editorials are products of an age when struggles between workers and industrialists were prompting violent confrontations -- including at The Times, where in 1910 a bomb planted by union members killed 20 people.

During both world wars, the paper didn’t hesitate to accuse unions of sabotaging the American war effort; in 1917, it went so far as to imply that union leaders were on the payroll of the Kaiser. If there were any question about where then-Publisher Harry Chandler stood in the contest between bosses and workers, consider the florid editorial from 1921, which out-Scrooges Ebenezer Scrooge by suggesting that Labor Day should live up to its name and be a day of grinding work.

Below are excerpts from a handful of past Labor Day editorials, concluding with a new entry. We hope you enjoy these fruits of our predecessors’ labor.

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1905

Los Angeles saw fifteen carloads of The Times people booming through the streets yesterday with flags a-flutter, bands playing and mottoes speaking; and doubtless some observers wondered what it meant.

It was full of meaning and of purpose. It was a sane and wholesome celebration of Labor Day by people who work, and among its objects were these:

To bring in festive reunion a large and happy family, for the exchange of greetings and the renewing of pleasant relations on a day of cheer and merriment.

To afford an illustration of a fitting observation of Labor Day, without boozing, scandal, violence or appeals to the baser appetites, passions and prejudices.

To exalt the Star Spangled Banner above the totem, the inglorious badge of the labor-unionites, under which they debase the laws of the land....

There are better things than dissipation, license and lawlessness for a holiday: they are refinement, high-mindedness and decency. There is a greater than the so-called “union label:” It is the Flag.

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1917

Conditions, both locally and nationally, have changed somewhat during the past few years. A great many members of the unions hold their cards, not because they have any particular sympathy with the organization, but because they wish to earn a living at their trade without the risk of getting their heads laid open with a gas pipe. The rank and file of the unions are hard-working, honest fellows who do not want to strike unless the provocation is real and the chance for arbitration remote. But the potentates, the [Samuel] Gompers, [Olaf] Tveitmoes, [Charles] Moyers, [William Dudley] Haywoods and all the other rascals that find profit and prestige in strikes -- these sedulously agitate, give false information and make faithless promises, often working up a strike that is pulled off and maintained with the bludgeon. These scoundrels and traitors have done their worst to embarrass the nation while it is at war. They have planned for national strikes and have succeeded in calling many strikes in mine fields and in various other industries. If the truth were known it would probably be found that the Kaiser’s gold has had something to do with this effort to create industrial trouble, while at the same time the traitors have endeavored to coerce all union members into keeping out of the army and navy.

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1921

There are rather unique possibilities in a “Labor Day.” We have never tried one yet. The vogue for “days” has become highly popular, but always they are days dedicated to the pursuit of entertainment, days on which we see how much gasoline we can burn up, how much we can eat, how well we can dress, how much pleasure we can crowd in....

Yet Labor Day could be the most inspiring, constructive, progressive day in all the year, a day on which every one of us was exhorted and inspired to put forth the very best that is in us, to strive for new records of industry, production, achievement, a day upon which every individual of us set for themselves the perfection standard in our special task....

It takes no special imagination to conceive the national and patriotic rewards of such a day. That one day’s records of achievement, production, the mobilizing of national effort to the common good, would bring so transplendent an illumination of possible attainment, so tangible an evidence of vast capacity that we should never again be satisfied with our second best, never again be satisfied with the mediocre level of just “getting by.”

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1942

The joint pledge to the President by the heads of the A.F.L. and C.I.O. of no more strikes of any kind for the duration of the war was made Dec. 23, two weeks or so after Pearl Harbor. Since then and to Aug. 1, according to figures just compiled by the War Labor Board, there have been some 700 strikes in war industries alone, involving a total loss of 1,130,678 man-days of munitions production -- enough to supply 25,000 of our troops with one Garand semiautomatic rifle apiece. Or 500 light tanks. Or 500 fighting planes. Those weapons, which we might have had, are lost forever....

Suppose, as is readily possible, that the outcome of an important battle, or the lives of a division of American soldiers, should depend on those lost Garand rifles, or tanks, or planes. Who would be responsible for the defeat, or for the slaughter of men who cannot strike or slow down or “resign” -- and who would not if they could?

There is no group in America which stands to lose as much by our defeat in the war as organized labor. And there is no group which is doing as much to bring about that defeat.

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1950

This nation may soon be tested as never before and the conflict will be one of propaganda as well as production. It is not enough that most of our big unions are cleaning house of Communists, though that is commendable. Labor -- organized and unorganized -- must clean out the false notions that the departing Reds left behind.

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1972

There are still unionists -- Cesar Chavez’ farm workers being an example -- who are at the bottom of the economic and social scale, but most rank-and-file union members have joined the unpoor, and their political and social attitudes are changing accordingly. So are their voting habits.

It is true, and may remain true, that most businessmen are Republicans while most unionists are Democrats. But the number of exceptions to both rules has grown in recent years.

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1995

The view of the American workplace on Labor Day, 1995, is unsettling. Despite a big expansion in August payrolls, especially in California, other indicators point to economic uncertainty. At the same time, jobs are being reshaped by technology, the global economy and corporate mergers and restructuring. Wages are stagnating, there’s little job security and the gap between rich and poor is widening. The cherished gold watch for service -- the equivalent of a Super Bowl ring for longtime employees -- may soon be a quaint relic. Americans entering the work force today probably will have to move from one job to another many times during their careers....

On this holiday, which traditionally marks the end of summer vacation, the American worker enjoys the beach or back-yard barbecues as in years past. But the smoke of uncertainty lies heavy in this year’s festivities.

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2006

This Labor Day, the worker’s lot remains mixed. Unemployment is low, but a flurry of numbers released last week suggest that job security, upward mobility and benefits are on the wane; earnings of full-time workers are falling, and 46.6 million people, many of them employed, don’t have health insurance. This economic recovery may be the first not to result in higher wages for U.S. workers, even as corporate profits and productivity soar.

Organized labor’s response to this situation is made difficult by several factors. Only 12.5% of the U.S. labor force held union jobs in 2005 -- and many, including workers, like it that way. The forces of globalization, which may cause some workers to lose their jobs, also benefit many workers, who get low prices at Wal-Mart and rising balances in their 401(k)s. And the labor movement itself is torn between what kind of activism is most effective, with some advocating a more grass-roots political approach.

Maybe Labor Day should be renamed Globalization Day. It’s hardly news that the world’s economy is becoming ever more interconnected. But the effects of that trend are not always obvious -- to businesses, consumers, investors and, yes, workers. Today is a day to focus on the worker’s challenge.