Perspective: Honoring workforce; continuing fight for good jobs

Hot dog season is officially coming to a close. That’s not coming from me, that’s directly from the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. That organization lists peak hot dog season as lasting from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Labor Day is typically considered the end of summer. Children are going back to school, pools are closing down and, apparently, the hot dog loses some of its magic. We put our white clothes and seersucker suits away and get ready for autumn.

People celebrate this last hurrah of summer in different ways. The city of San Diego holds the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge, drawing sculptors from all over the world. Chicago and Detroit host jazz festivals that last the entire holiday weekend. Our own Brookfield, Missouri, holds the Great Pershing Balloon Derby, a hot air balloon rally. You can drive up there and take a balloon ride this weekend, if you’d like.

I think it’s natural to view this weekend as a last chance for summer fun. Labor Day isn’t tied to a traditional church or family holiday. People go to the lake, go shopping or barbecue. However, Labor Day was established for an important reason.

In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, workers suffered under rough conditions. They were working standard 60 hour weeks, forced to rent from the owner of their company and paid low wages that typically went right back to their employers. In some states, children as young as 5 worked in mills and factories. Tennessee Ernie Ford sang “I owe my soul to the company store,” and for some Americans, that rang true. In several places, riots and violent strikes resulted.

These conditions slowly changed with the advent of the standard 40-hour week and child labor laws. In 1894, the U.S. Congress passed a law designating Labor Day an official holiday to honor working men and women.

The fight to provide good jobs still continues. This past session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 68, a comprehensive economic development package. Increasingly, jobs require a college degree, and SB 68 created the Fast-Track Workforce Incentive Grant which will make it easier for Missourians to attend college here in Missouri, and lessen the burden imposed by rising tuition costs.

Senate Bill 68 also transformed the Missouri Works program into Missouri One Start. This program encourages business owners to provide training and new jobs here in our state. The law makes it easier to build new training facilities and rewards business owners for the new jobs that are created. It will mean a better trained and better equipped workforce, allowing our working men and women to meet the challenges of the 21st century head-on.

As we go to the pool or a barbecue this weekend, we should take a minute and reflect on what we’re celebrating. This holiday is for the working men and women, the backbone of our society. This country has its problems, but we live in the greatest country in the world, and it’s thanks to the hardworking people that live here.

State Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, represents the 6th District, and shares his perspective on statehouse issues twice a month.