Time has a way of fading achievements, shrinking important historical developments to just another holiday. Especially history that corporations and most politicians want forgotten.

As working men and women, please don’t take these achievements for granted. Our Brothers and Sisters who came before us laid the groundwork for what today seems rote and ordinary. But it very much isn’t.

What we today think of as commonplace and fair was instead a hard-fought, exhaustive, battle. Bosses did not grant us 40-hour work weeks, eight-hour days, weekends, holidays, pensions and health insurance out of Christmas cheer and kind-spirit. Those things were fought for, by working people, who were scolded and ridiculed and called traitors and criminals, all because they had the audacity to demand fairness, a better more complete life, and a piece of the pie.

Labor Day is a commemoration that differs from most other holidays. It is not a recognition of a singular person, living or dead, but rather an annual tribute to working people, who through their determination and toil, have lifted humanity in general. Investors and the stockbrokers don’t do that. Workers do.

We honor working people today, on Labor Day, and every day. We carry their torch. Organized labor made this world a better and more just place.