The Grassroots Corner September 6, 2021

A LABOR DAY MESSAGE

We hope you are enjoying your Labor Day holiday and that you will consider ways to link the labor movement to the FAIRtax. The first Labor Day holiday, according to UnionPlus.Org, was celebrated in New York City on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, following the deaths of thirteen workers during the Pullman Strike. President Grover Cleveland made reconciliation with the labor movement a top political priority for his second term, and Labor Day become a federal holiday in 1894. We have been observing Labor Day ever since.

Our Labor Day is an antidote to the May 1 “Day of Labor” celebrated in other countries throughout the world, including our close allies. That day draws its inspiration from the Communist Manifesto. Our Labor Day does not.

If you are a union member, you can use Labor Day to introduce your local to the FAIRtax. Doug Dash, about whom we have written before, did just that. Doug is a retired letter carrier, but he continues to be active in the National Association of Letter Carriers (“NALC”). The NALC is a member of the AFL-CIO. Doug got his Branch 769 in Cherry-Hill/Haddonfield, New Jersey, to pass a resolution supporting the FAIRtax.
 

Doug convinced his local because he firmly believes that the FAIRtax does more for the American worker than any other piece of legislation. The FAIRtax allows local people to take home their whole paychecks. The FAIRtax creates rather than destroys jobs. It allows Americans to own the fruits of their labor. By stripping out other taxes, the FAIRtax decreases the pretax prices of goods and services that we buy and use. It allows organizations to increase their wage and benefit packages to their employees.

The FAIRtax helps union labor because it decreases the incentive to outsource operations to foreign countries. The FAIRtax allows workers to save for more a successful retirement by eliminating capital gains tax. People who invest the products of their labor can realize a higher return on their investments. Finally, the FAIRtax eliminates class warfare based on income.

Doug got us a meeting in Washington, DC, with the President of the NALC. He also brought up the FAIRtax at two union national conventions. Although he could not quite get the national organization to endorse the FAIRtax, Doug has shown that sometimes labor rank and file part ways with the national leadership and sign on.

Doug’s contacts with his union have been instrumental in getting us meetings with Democratic Members of Congress. Doug arranged a meeting with Congressman Donald Norcross, NJ-01, and got the Congressman to pay attention by combining the FAIRtax with an unrelated union agenda.

I would love to hear your ideas about how to get organized Labor behind the FAIRtax. Organized labor can be a powerful tool.

 

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