Labor Day's Other Meaning

By CASSIE MACDUFF

The nation celebrates Labor Day this weekend. But to me, it's Mother's Day. No, I'm not making some corny pun about birth pangs.

My mother, in her first career out of college, was a Teamsters business rep in the 1940s. It was an unusual job for a woman in those days. But it was wartime, and women were being recruited into many male-dominated fields.

Just picturing a petite, beautiful young Midwestern woman slugging it out at the negotiating table with industry bosses and blue-collar workers warms my heart.

I grew up knowing about Mom's work for a labor union in Los Angeles before she married Dad. But I didn't know the details. So I asked her recently to fill me in.

Mom was raised in Winona, Minn., the eldest daughter of parents who emigrated from England to Canada, then the United States.

They were decent, hard-working folks who brought their children up in the Episcopal Church during the Great Depression, with strong moral values and a sense that the world was essentially good.

Mom told me she never knew prejudice or injustice existed until she went away to college at the University of Wisconsin and her studies opened her eyes.

Mom skipped her freshman year after a placement test advanced her to sophomore immediately (did I mention how smart she is?). She met and fell in love with a pre-law student who encouraged her also to study law.

When he graduated and entered law school, Mom wasn't a senior yet. But she took a placement test and was admitted to law school without a bachelor's degree. That was where she learned about the struggle for workers' rights.

Mom soon had to set aside her studies and go to work to put her husband through law school, as wives did in those days. She never went back.

When her husband got his law degree and was offered a job in California, she came with him. The Teamsters offered her the job as a business rep working in the wholesale grocery industry representing warehouse workers, making sure their contracts were enforced and taking part in negotiations.

Mom said she'd entered her new job a bit naïve and idealistic, thinking she was going to change the world. The scope of work turned out to be a bit less expansive. But knowing Mom, I feel certain she made a difference.

For a historical perspective on what labor unions contributed to modern work life, I asked UC Riverside professor emeritus of sociology Edna Bonacich.

Bonacich said unions fought for and won child labor laws, the 8-hour workday, 40-hour work week, overtime pay, sick pay, pensions, health care benefits and paid vacations -- things people take for granted today.

Mom and her first husband eventually divorced, and Mom continued to work for the Teamsters until she met and married my father and gave birth to my brother and me.

She's 90 years old now. I'm so proud of her, and not just for her role -- however small she thinks it was -- in the labor movement.

She and my Dad taught my brother and me to speak out against injustice and stand up for our beliefs. It might not make you popular, but it gives meaning to your life.

So, Mom, this one's for you. Happy Labor Day.