Dear Friend,
I’m the daughter of working-class immigrants, of parents who had to work multiple minimum-wage jobs just to make ends meet. Before my Mom passed away to cancer in 2004, my twin sister, Ida, and I would sometimes join her when she was working shifts at Kmart to help her fold clothes and get home at a decent time.
Labor Day is a day when we honor people like my Mom – and all workers around the country, so many of whom have collectively fought for rights like a minimum wage, safer workspaces, 40-hour workweeks and two-day weekends.
Whether we belong to a union in our workplace or not, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the workers whose efforts have helped make us all safer and more prosperous.
These issues are deeply personal to me. It’s why I fight for the rights of workers every day in Tallahassee – and against the big corporations and bought-out politicians who cynically try to stop working people from building collective power by pitting them against each other with divisive and distracting culture wars.
I know we still have so much work to do, both in Florida and across the country. But I also know that people power is stronger than corporate power – and when we all join together, organize and mobilize, we can accomplish anything.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Labor Day!
Onward,
