Rep. Levin: Labor Day reminds us to think about what we owe working people | Opinion

Many of us think of Labor Day as a day off to enjoy the last vestiges of summer, but I encourage you to spend some time today thinking about why we celebrate it and what it means in 2021.

Labor Day is a product of the labor movement and celebrates the vast social and economic achievements of American workers.

While the plight of workers has undoubtedly gotten better since Labor Day's enshrinement as a federal holiday in 1894, there is much work left to be done. Service and retail workers across the country work long hours for low wages, have unpredictable schedules and are subject to all kinds of daily indignities. Workers at Nabisco and Frito-Lay walked out in collective protest of injustices like draconian forced overtime shifts. Mineworkers in Alabama remain on strike after six months trying to win a fair contract.

In multiple incidents, workers have been struck by moving vehicles while on the picket line. The prevailing system of employment in the United States is one in which you can be fired at any time for a good reason, a bad reason (other than a few proscribed by law) or no reason at all.

At the same time, new organizing efforts continue, notably in the media and tech industries. More and more, workers at behemoth Amazon are speaking out about their abhorrent working conditions and organizing for change. The Fight for $15 (and a union; don't forget the union) movement has successfully turned the nation's conscience, if not yet its Senate, toward a long-overdue increase in the minimum wage.

In the coming weeks, via the budget reconciliation process, Congress is set to consider the Build Back Better Act. With this bill, we have a chance to address many of these issues and make workers' lives better in real, tangible ways.

For example, the plan includes robust investments in child care so parents can feel confident that their children are well taken care of while they work. It also ensures that the jobs of folks doing this and other care work are good jobs. It includes a paid leave program so that workers can care for themselves or loved ones in times of need without fear of losing their job or becoming impoverished.

Because health care needs don't stop at the neck, it includes expanding Medicare to cover vision, hearing and dental services. And it tackles out-of-control prescription drug prices by allowing the government to negotiate a better deal with pharmaceutical companies.

In Michigan, I created a program called "No Worker Left Behind" that offered free community college to workers during the Great Recession. Through this program we put more than 162,000 unemployed and underemployed people back to school to train for in-demand jobs. The Build Back Better Act will include my America's College Promise Act to launch such a program nationally, and further invests billions of dollars in job training and workforce equity programs.

While we continue to fight to pass transformative labor law reform, namely the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, we can advance some of its most important pieces now.

The recurring theme throughout these (what might be called, charitably, "wonky") policy discussions is one simple goal: To create an economy where working people can support their families and live with a modicum of dignity and security.

Labor Day serves as a holiday to celebrate workers, but it also serves as an annual reminder to think critically about what society owes to working people of every class and type.