What should the fruits of Americans’ labor obtain?

 - by Dustin Woods
  Visionary Columnist

What shall the fruits of our labor obtain for us? Is the American dream still in place? The one of working a full-time job and providing for your family so you can purchase a home with a white picket fence while having 2.5 children and 1.5 pets. 

Does working ensure that we don’t have to worry about our healthcare needs being covered all the time? Are many of the employed people out there confident that their positions won’t undergo major transformations due to technological advancements or hedge fund managers’ whims?

The American proletariat is a powerhouse workforce that has driven this country to every height we have reached. It should be mentioned that the original workforce that built our country was enslaved and unable to benefit from the fruits of their labor at all.

Today, we see the working class pushed up against the ropes. Unable to get ahead because of diminishing returns on the output of our labor, while inflation runs rampant and interest rates soar, the regular working-class citizen is having one of the toughest times in over a century.

Many are pointing out that inequality has reached levels unseen since the Gilded Age and, in some respects, is worse, with wealth now more concentrated in the hands of the wealthy than when the labor movement began to pick up steam.

I say all of this to point out that the last time things got nearly this bad, our forefathers took unheard-of action to bring about lasting change not only for themselves but for every generation to follow. Child labor laws, workplace safety, reduced workweek standards, higher pay, and better benefits didn’t happen because of the holiness of capitalists. These improvements came from our great-great-great-grandparents being more willing to fight for what is right than to lay down and be subjugated by those with power and money.  

What should the fruits of Americans’ labor obtain for them? Should we not guarantee healthcare to every American so that they may labor toward a better society free from the burdens of illness? Should we not guarantee that the money one makes is sufficient to live in our society? Why are companies given such latitude to pay so little to their workers when so many tax incentives have been created to ensure that companies can live longer than any human ever will? It’s almost as if we value corporations more than the people that comprise them. 

So, this Labor Day, I ask you to consider joining the labor movement yourself in pushing for a society that works for us, not just us always working for it.

First, minimum wage is not enough and should be tied to the poverty level. Yes, I’m looking at you, Oklahoma, which had a chance to fix this recently and failed.

Second, Medicare for all benefits every worker if companies no longer have your healthcare to hold over your head like the Sword of Damocles.

Third, a reduction in the workweek to 32 hours with the same pay as for a 40-hour workweek. American workers have increased their productivity exponentially, but their pay has not kept pace. New technological advancements will compound this.

It’s time to start asking for something they absolutely can give us: more of our time back. These are big transformational projects that I would think we could all be proud to let our progeny inherit. Instead of 40 trillion dollars in government debt that we have chosen to let future generations be saddled with.

The Gayly online. 9/7/26 @ 5:01 p.m. CST.