Stop and give thanks for sacrifice

By Rick Moyle

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As we enter in to the holiday season, stop and think about those who came before us and sacrificed to make the world a better place. This is the season when we thank folks past and present for what they have contributed to making working peoples' lives better all over the world.

First, thank you to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives in hope of making future generations lives better. These brave souls include all of our military and those folks from organized labor who fought and continue to fight every day for basic human rights all over the world.

Thank you to those who have ever stuck your necks out to assist a co-worker they knew was being treated unfairly by an employer and especially those who work in an at-will employment state in which one can be fired for virtually anything. Iowa is such a state.

Thank every one of you who has gone to work for an employer who did not care about you as a person or appreciate you as an employee. Bad employers only add to the everyday strife that working people endure to support our families.

Thank you to every union in this world. Even though you have been wrongfully demonized by those who put their own greed over the welfare of mankind, you have stood proud and fought for those not able to fight for themselves. You have been misunderstood by those who have not taken the time to educate themselves about labor history.

Just a few of the people who go unrecognized far too often and deserve a special thanks include fire fighters, police officers, teachers, prison guards, sanitation, power company, phone company workers, and city, county and state employees. There are some among us that do know that you are union members. You are our neighbors, and without you folks the wheels would not turn. I pray that the American people stand by you at a time when the very wealthy would like to privatize your jobs for the sake of making themselves even wealthier.

Please take the time this holiday season to thank someone for making all of our lives better. Thank all who stand up for the less fortunate. Thank the building and trades members who build our hospitals and schools and who donate their expertise in times of tragedy when Mother Nature has decimated a community. Thank the factory worker who manufactures the things that we need on a daily basis, and thank the postal worker for braving the elements to assure you receive your mail. Thank all of the public sector employees.

These people are our neighbors, our family members and our community. Thank you, working families.

Rick Moyle is executive director, Hawkeye Labor Council AFL-CIO, Cedar Rapids. Comments: rmoyle@hawkeyelabor.us