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Holiday designed for rest is perfect time to get active
Remember Labor Day? The national holiday when those who labor are supposed to rest? While this is traditionally a day for picnics and speeches, you will be part of a minority if you use Monday to meditate on workers' rights and your role in safeguarding them.
Instead, if you're like most Americans, your day of rest will consist of driving on congested freeways after a too-short vacation, checking out sales at department stores, pulling a shift at one of those department stores, or catching up on e-mails from the office.
If you're not going to rest, why not get busy? Not on a job search; there will be time enough for that during the weeks ahead. No, this time I'm talking about political activism. The efforts that brought you Labor Day and the 40-hour workweek need shoring up now.
Never mind how you feel about labor unions, the organizations that secured most of the significant worker benefits of the last century. The question to ask yourself is how you feel about the political landscape today as it affects workers. When you decide your viewpoint, you can join forces with a larger group or can voice your concerns independently.
Wondering where to start? Here are a few issues that challenge workers today and, in some cases, job-seekers. Check off the ones that you feel strongly about.
• Lack of affordable health care insurance for part-time workers, unemployed workers, early retirees, small-business operators, small-business employees . . . Who isn't on this list?
• Lack of political commitment to raising the minimum wage or otherwise ensuring adequate pay for the lowest-level workers.
• The growing use of credit reports and other background information to screen job candidates, regardless of the position being filled.
• The loss or reduction in many states of subsidized day care for the working poor.
• The use of tax-free, nonrepayable public funds to assist large businesses, while small businesses - which create the majority of jobs - get little or no assistance from the same sources.
• The enormous gaps between both the pay and severance packages of top executives and front-line workers in large corporations.
• The absolute refusal of many cities to improve public transportation at a time when owning and operating a car can cost more than housing for some workers.
This is the short list. What are you going to do about any of these issues? If you can snatch a few hours from your job search to work on these problems, you will reap rewards while also making a difference. You might even find yourself energized when you turn back to the want ads.
That's because one of the side benefits of political activism is a renewed sense of power. Other, more tangible benefis are a bigger list of networking contacts and strengthened skills in writing, speaking or organizing.
Ready to step into the fray? Try at least one of these ideas to get started.
• Write a letter to the editor.
• Contact your local, state or federal representatives.
• Choose a candidate for the upcoming elections; put out a lawn sign and vote.
• Attend - or arrange - a local meeting on one of these topics.
• Attend city council meetings; voice an opinion.
You're busy. I'm busy. We all have more immediate things to do than to get mired in processes that seem to make no difference.
But when I remember that people died to bring us this far and that our model of democracy is still sought-after by other countries, I'm ashamed not to participate more fully.
It's one thing to hang out a flag to show allegiance to one's nation; it's another, far more difficult thing to actively uphold the principles of that nation.
Have a good Labor Day. Rest, but not too long. There's a lot of work ahead of us.
- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.
