by Ken Sagar

This Labor Day we honor and recognize our neighbors, the working women and men who keep our country running.

We’re honoring the transit workers who spend hours in traffic and weather to get us where we need to go.  We’re honoring the teachers who’re spending their Labor Day in classrooms getting ready for our children the next morning.  We’re honoring the firefighters and caregivers whose work is so much more than a job.  We’re honoring the engineers, construction workers, manufacturing workers, mathematicians and scientists who are building America now and for the future.  We’re honoring the nurses, doctors and EMTs we’ve entrusted with our health.  We honor those who contribute every single day on the job and in our communities.

And on the 10th anniversary of September 11, we honor those who gave their lives through their jobs, and those who put themselves at risk every day to do their jobs.

We also recognize the many who are jobless despite searching every day for jobs in an economy still reeling from the biggest financial crisis in 75 years—a crisis working people didn’t cause, but for which they have paid such a heavy price.

Work is what connects us all.  We truly are one.  As we stand together to say “we are one” with our entire communities, we call for our leaders to commit to addressing the jobs crisis that impacts every one of us, to strengthening our economy and to securing the ladder to the middle class.  We must make things in America again. We must invest in our nation’s infrastructure and clean, domestic energy.  We must build an economy where working people can retire with security and where children can get an education that can lead to a promising future.

Working people are the backbone of our economy, the fuel that keeps America strong.  This Labor Day we pause to recognize the value of work and all who do it.

Ken Sagar
President, Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
2000 Walker Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50317
515-262-9571
515-508-9916 cell