Today is Labor Day, where we celebrate the working people who are the backbone of our Country. As Democrats, we also celebrate the Labor Movement as an indispensable force for protecting and strengthening working people.
All across our state, tens of thousands of workers have come together with their families to enjoy picnics and pancake breakfasts and festivals celebrating this holiday. And those families were joined by countless Democrats – from officers of the CDP, to candidates for Congress, to everyday folks who serve their Union as well as our Party. And that’s because Democrats believe in the power of worker solidarity and joining together to overcome extraordinary adversity in order to improve the lives of all workers.
And today, throughout much of the Country, workers are facing the most adverse conditions since the earliest days of the Union movement.
Right-wing judges are waging a frontal assault against working people. Every ruling that rolls back Union rights is a ruling that hurts workers – through lower pay, unsafe working conditions and a lack of protection against exploitation and abuse. State Legislatures are busting unions with cynically-named “Right to Work” laws. And corporations spend billions of dollars crushing the workers who even dare suggest unionizing.
But we will ultimately prevail. Just as the first labor activists of the 19th Century prevailed over beatings, bombings and shootings to build a movement capable of enduring wars, economic crises and dramatic social change.
That’s because the values of dignity, security and opportunity for all workers, commonly championed by Labor Union activists and Democratic activists alike, are California’s values. They speak to our most basic notions of citizenship and community.
Those values are the source of America’s enduring promise, and they are inextricably linked with the principles of the Labor Movement. And of our Democratic Party.
That is why we will fight with every breath in our bodies to defend and expand the rights of workers to come together and exercise their collective power as members of a Union.
In Solidarity, we truly believe that an injury to one is an injury to all, and we will stand with our brothers and sisters.
Eric C. Bauman, RN
Chair, California Democratic Party
Alexandra Gallardo-Rooker,
Vice Chair, California Democratic Party
Daraka Larimore-Hall,
Vice Chair, California Democratic Party
Jenny Bach,
Secretary, California Democratic Party
Dan Weitzman,
Controller, California Democratic Party
