Happy May Day from your friends at the Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP)!People throughout the world on May 1 celebrate the social and economic achievements of the labor movement. In these contemporary times of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NFTA, aka, the Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norté), double-digit unemployment and Indonesian employees earning less than $5 a day making $200 sneakers, the commemoration would take less time than an episode of How I Married Your Mother.
All this talk about labor celebrations gets one nostalgic about a worker-friendly era in which union membership wasn't eyed with the suspicion and hostility as in the post-Bush Recession. While sorting through YouTube, I happened upon a commercial classic... "Look For the Union Label" courtesy of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Sure, we laughed at the laborers sporting Coke-bottle glasses and clad in polyester pant suits. But, really... what's wrong with the idea of hard-working people, however funny looking, aspiring to hard for decent wages and benefits? When have you last seen an article of clothing made in the USA?
Those who find the concept of American-produced clothing loathsome probably rooted for Fred Thompson's cretinous supervisor -- and against Jackie, Roseanne, Crystal and the laborers at the Wellman plastics factory on Roseanne. You can take your 8,000-widgets-a-day quota and kiss Mrs. Connor's abundant... Yes, you are better off participating in the time-honored ritual of May Day pole dancing, which seems more suited for your tastes and sensibilities.
If you want to catch the classic "Look for the Union Label" commercial from your childhood:
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