Hopefully this beautiful Labor Day in Iowa has been spent relaxing with family and friends. For more than 100 years Labor Day has been a day on which our nation affirms the value of its workers. We recognize the sacrifices of previous generations who organized under sometimes hostile conditions to make our workplaces safer and our wages and hours fairer. It doesn’t matter if your job is in a field, a factory, or behind a desk: our jobs are better today because of the sacrifices and struggles of organized labor. The Iowa Democratic Party continues to be among organized labor’s strongest allies.

Organized labor brought us the 40-hour work week and the minimum wage so workers could help raise their families and give their children opportunity. They fought to establish OSHA and end workplace discrimination so our jobs will be of safe and welcoming. They helped pass the National Labor Relations Act so that any American can join a union we can without fear of being fired. All of these are commonplace things in the workplace today and few would argue their tremendous value.

The Iowa Democratic Party supports the rights of American workers. We support a living wage, universal health care that goes with you from job to job, workers’ rights to refuse unsafe work, the right of a worker injured on the job to choose a health care provider, equal pay for equal work and strengthening the NLRA, OSHA, MSHA and NIOSH. Democratic elected officials and candidates at all levels from the state house to the White House are on the side of American workers.

So, as another Iowa summer comes to a close and we put away the grill and tend to the lawn, we should stop and reflect on the great progress we’ve made since the labor movement began. Please join me in saying thank you to the men and women of organized labor on this day.

Best,
Michael Kiernan
Chair, Iowa Democratic Party