Happy Labor Day—a holiday that was moved so the U.S. celebrates it on a different date than the rest of the world to discourage solidarity.
May Day, (May 1, internationally) celebrates worker's rights and spring. The labor union is a glorious thing, and labor organizers are responsible for weekends, the eight-hour workday, and, allegedly, really good sandwiches. But why stop there? This Labor Day, and this entire "Willenium," let's keep going. We need more…
If any of these sound outrageous to you, question why that is. Do you think the money or resources don't exist? Because that's not right. Do you think you don't deserve them? Because that's not right. Do you think someone else doesn't deserve them? That's not right either. Keep going—more and then some more.
[Kathyryn Tripp, Unsplash]
Four Day Work Week
This has been tested in multiple countries, and pilot studies have found that switching to a four day work week improves quality of life and efficiency, which is huge. What more could you ask for really?
$30-an-Hour Minimum Wage
This is the cost of a sandwich, drink, and chips after tax. That seems fair for an hour of work.
Free Housing
By being born, everyone needs a place to live, so rent is a fine for having a human need. Think of how many queer kids or people in abusive relationships would be safe if housing were free. We're the only animals who have to pay to live on the Earth. How did we f*ck our lives up more than birds?
Free/Affordable College
Universities were supposed to be for everyone. They should be accessible. You shouldn't have to pay $50,000 a year to learn that the founding fathers were bad, actually. You should be able to do that for $6,000. And if to you this doesn't fall under the umbrella of labor unions, that begs the question: What couldn't organized labor achieve? Nothing.
Sixth Season of The Wire
It's all the same actors, but now they're in nursing homes, which smacks of elder abuse, money laundering, corruption scandals, and shady home attendants and doctors. The labor movement gets stronger when we dispel the illusion that our institutions are working for us, so it's in their best interest. The final frontier of social justice—the elderly.
No Prisons or Police
This is a hard one for some of you but that's just because you've been propagandized to high hell. The police kill innocent people every day and many, many dogs. More Black men are in the prison system now than were enslaved. Have you not watched 13th yet? It came out in 2016. Get on it.
[Wikimedia Commons/Allie Caulfield]
Themed Literary Drinks at the Library
The library is a place where everything good happens: free physical media; air conditioning; free bathrooms; programs for teens, kids, and adults; free computer access; and a slate of interactive cool programming. The only thing they're missing is themed drinks. Every new month, a new book themed beverage to expand fandoms and satisfy the thirsty. Please imagine how happy some woman in her 50s with glasses on a bead chain would be to design something every month with new flavors and scents and garnishes. Don't you need more elderberries in your life?
Salary Transparency
A new job is hiring? They should say what they're paying. Already work somewhere? You should be able to see what everyone is making. The only people who benefit from secrecy are the people who don't want to pay you what you should be making. Transparency helps everyone get what they deserve, and it's good for glass.
Free Healthcare
Instead of your taxes going to bomb children in other countries or give the police kevlar vests, what if getting cancer was only stressful because it's cancer, not because now you also have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to be sick? What if it didn't cost money to park at a hospital? What if teeth and eyes were considered parts of the body you could get taken care of regularly? What if having healthcare wasn't tied to your shi**y job?
Paid Parental Leave
It's unethical to separate puppies from their mom before 10 weeks, but we make humans leave their babies before then. All jobs should have paid parental leave for both parents. You just had a baby. Spreadsheets can wait. In Sweden, paid parental leave is 480 days per child, about 16 months. Feels right—let's try it.
There are so many more things: open migration (no borders), more and better public transportation, third spaces, clean public restrooms everywhere, later school start times, and a curriculum that centers around learning and imagination and potential and real history instead of rule following and quotas and dogma, more free farms and public food, restorative justice committees that figure out restitution based on survivor/victim wishes, etc. Anything you can imagine, you should. The world we live in is one that someone else built, and we can change anything we want that isn't working.
Join a labor union and start dreaming. Happy Labor Day.
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