By Leah Madsen

Labor Day is the last hurrah of summer. Labor day is for firing up the grill, driving to the beach one last time, packing away the white pants, and getting ready for school.    

Labor Day is also a social movement day.  Labor day is for celebrating the 40 hr-work week, organizing for more and better jobs, and demanding not just bread, but roses too.  (Why bread and roses?  Read below!)  At a time when public unions, the last stronghold of organized labor, are under attack across the country, and the workforce continues to trend towards temporary labor and outsourcing, Labor Day is an important day.  

Labor Day is more important to me now than it ever was before because of my Jewish community.  Jews in Boston, including many young Jews, are part of the labor movement.  Some are union organizers, while others are community organizers at grassroots organizations like the Chelsea Collaborative and MassCOSH whose constituents are largely blue-collar immigrants. Like me, some are "professional Jews" at The Workmen's Circle, Moishe/Kavod, the Jewish Labor Committee and JALSA, while others are lay leaders at these same organizations.  Many of us trained as organizers with the Jewish Organizing Initiative.  Together, we work on many different campaigns, from the Hyatt 100! to the REAL campaign for Temp Workers' Justice.  To see my Jewish friends and colleagues all over the local labor landscape feels powerful and makes me proud.  I'm excited to be a part of it.  

As for the bread and roses that I mentioned earlier ...   

2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the "Bread and Roses Strike" which took place at the textile mills in Lawrence and involved more than 20,000 immigrant workers from many different ethnic backgrounds. The story goes that during the strike, many women carried signs saying "We want bread, but we want roses too!"  In other words, "we want sustenance, but dignity too!"  Stay tuned for a variety of programming related to the Bread and Roses strike as we honor this important moment in American labor history.  

And Happy Labor Day!

The Bread and Roses Strike: Massachusetts militiamen with fixed bayonets surround a parade of peaceful strikers. (Wikimedia Commons) 

Leah Madsen is an organizer at the Boston Workmen's Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice and is an alum of the Jewish Organizing Initiative.  She can be reached at leah@circleboston.org.