Labor Day

Labor day is among our favorite holidays, though we admit it’s tough to choose.
The summer vacations are already a memory, so a day off is nice. The days are getting shorter but still warm into the evenings. The frenzy of July 4 seems to have given way to calmer weekends of leisure.
But speaking of leisure, who picked this holiday’s name? It seems odd that we celebrate “labor” by doing none.
Apparently the tradition began in the 1880s to rally support for labor organizations, first in Canada and then in the U.S. Whether or not that day was critical to their efforts, the century since has been kind to labor unions, though their heyday seems past. Their biggest membership is now civil servants, not manufacturing and other industrial workers.
Of course, folks today are mostly glad just to have a job, unionized or not. Layoffs used to be something you read about in the Wall Street Journal, as a statistic in some obscure market segment. No longer. Now, we all know someone, or several, out of work, and the unemployment figures are shocking.
One wag has suggested that we ought not to celebrate the whole day, stopping at perhaps 5 p.m. in solidarity with those who have been laid off. In actuality, many people have had to make do with part-time work, and that must weigh on the reported figures, as well. Maybe we’ll just start the holiday later, in solidarity with them.
While some of us are perhaps a little too busy, there is honor in an honest day’s work. Though even that seems to be problematic these days, as the continuing disclosure of well-plotted and long-running Ponzi schemes continues to surprise us.
We should mention the labor of love put forth by the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance this and every Labor Day weekend. With their fabulous auction, businesses across this major segment of our local economy work hard, and have fun, to raise money for local nonprofits. We’re especially pleased to see that now, as those can represent significant contributions to the smaller budgets that many of the nonprofits face in these difficult economic times.
Vineyard workers may well be laboring on Labor Day, as we’ve started to see the large trucks carry freshly picked grapes up and down and across the Valley. And this is just what’s obvious, as we understand the convention for the wine industry now is to have work crews in the vineyards throughout the growing season, ensuring high “Sonoma” quality for the fruit.
Finally, we want to mention those hard-working volunteers who help provide services for the seasonal laborers. These volunteers may not seek attention but they merit appreciation, as all members of our community deserve to have their basic needs met.
We hope everyone in the community has a safe, satisfying holiday, one that will rejuvenate body and spirit as we head into a new academic year, a new economic era, and a new season.
Ah, now we remember why, in our view, Labor Day is one of the best.