On this day that America has set aside to commemorate the laborer, and everything the laborer has fought to earn, there is no greater proof that many employees are second class. The servant class who are serving meals, slinging drinks, and selling wares. We are the unloved, unconsidered, uncared for. Noticed not only in wages, but in the fact that today is a day made mandatory for many to work.
And still, we cling to the moralism of the 40 hour work week, 52 weeks a year. All this because idle hands make work of the devil. At a time when the goal is to reduce the labor cost per piece, so much so that many laborers are no longer needed. And then, those who are skilled craftsmen are told that they want too much for their artistically made wares. Largely because capitalism says “buy it cheap so you can buy more” or “hoard money so maybe you can retire or avoid medical bankruptcy.”
And so we work. Jobs are made to support the over worked who can't invest in their families and friends, or even themselves. All to support working more hours every week than ever before. Buying more gadgets to enhance what little down time we have, rather than more downtime to enjoy.
At a time when everyone is being asked to take up the slack of the hundreds of thousands dead, the serving class is looked down on. The dead are looked down upon as “not wanting to work anymore.” When the love of “buy it online and have it delivered today” is making the work lives of thousands more brutal. When billionaires are telling you to save money as they put entrepreneurs and small business owners out of employment. When the pleasantries of life such as walkable spaces are made affordable only to the rich. Do not forget that we, the second class control your food, we control your production lines, and we control your lives. The unfortunate are gathering, and we are pissed off. We know your money is broken, your wealth stolen, and that you love the supremacy of making your life easier through our labor.
Friends in labor, if you can afford it, I hope that today your beer is refreshing, your cannabis strong, and your thirst for reform is growing. Take what rest you can today, stolen in whatever fashion required. Because my god I hope some shit is coming, and that we are the source of the storm.