Labor Day Applauds American Workers

In 1894, Congress passed legislation to make the first Monday in September a federal holiday honoring the American worker. In recent years, the three-day holiday weekend has marked the unofficial end of summer as families gear up for busy back-to-school routines, football season and the fall harvest in America’s Heartland. 

President Grover Cleveland’s signature 130 years ago officially put Labor Day on Americans’ calendars. It represented a victory for workers in their efforts to secure better treatment during the Industrial Revolution. In the decades to follow, Congress established workplace safety, civil rights, labor and health policies. One of my longest-fought priorities was my push to apply federal workplace laws to Congress. After tilling the legislative soil for a decade, my work came to fruition through the Congressional Accountability Act.  Until 1995, Congress was exempt from a dozen workplace laws. That makes no sense. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander: laws that apply to men and women on Main Street ought to apply to the people’s branch of government.  

Before I was elected to Congress, I worked jobs that provided off-farm income, helping me continue farming and put food on the table for my family. I punched a clock for 10 years on an assembly line, putting screw holes in furnace registers at Waterloo Register. Before that, I worked a couple years as a sheet metal worker at Universal Hoist in Cedar Falls. I was a member of the International Association of Machinists. Like many Iowans, I experienced the reality of getting laid off from work. I got three pink slips from my employers, once at Waterloo Register and twice at Universal Hoist. I also punched a time card at Rath Packing Company, working full-time during the second shift to pay my way through college.

During my annual 99 county meetings across Iowa, I make it a point to meet with employees on the factory floors where they work. Listening to their views, answering questions and learning about their jobs with a tour of their facilities helps me be a better voice for them in Washington. I'm reminded all the time of the hard work Iowans put in to earn every penny in their paychecks, and how that paycheck must be stretched to pay the bills and make ends meet after Uncle Sam takes his share. 

 Workers regularly ask about health care and retirement issues, such as Social Security and pensions. When I chaired the Senate Finance Committee in 2006, I successfully pushed landmark reforms to protect workers’ pensions from corporate malfeasance and made permanent vital savings initiatives to help Americans build retirement nest eggs. The Pension Protection Act beefed up corporate contributions to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and strengthened the formula used to calculate how much companies contribute to employee pension plans. 

At my 2024 county meetings, workers have expressed concerns about the high cost of living, prescription drug prices and the unfairness of transferring student debt to the taxpayer. Many workers tell me they paid their own way or didn’t go to college. Why should they pay off someone else’s loans? 

 Iowans this summer also raised concerns about the layoffs impacting thousands of families in our state. The downturn across the farm economy has forced ag-related businesses to make tough decisions and apply hard lessons they learned decades ago during the farm crisis. When farmers aren’t making money, they aren’t buying new machinery. That has a ripple effect along the entire supply chain, from soup to nuts. 

 Just consider. America’s farmers are experiencing the toughest financial stress in decades. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects, next year, we’ll face the highest agricultural trade deficit on record. Declining commodity prices, rising production costs and high interest rates are presenting a clear and present danger to the farm economy. This, in turn, impacts lenders, shippers, suppliers, manufacturers, and implement dealers, as well as small businesses that serve lunch, sell gas and provide other services in the community. 

Make no bones about it. Iowa’s economic vitality and workers’ job security are closely aligned with the health of the farm economy. That’s why I’m an outspoken advocate for tax, trade, energy and regulatory policies that help fuel farm receipts, such as expanding market access, boosting renewable biofuels, reining in reckless federal spending to help lower inflation, investing in infrastructure and strengthening the farm safety net. 

 On Labor Day, let’s celebrate the productivity of the American worker. Enjoy the family cookouts and tailgates but be sure to take time to honor the men and women who built your car or fixed your tractor. And those who raised, processed and transported the meat on your grill and the beverage in your hand. Take time to honor the men and women who made and scooped your ice cream or manufactured the wind turbine to generate the electricity cooling your home. Honor those who designed the software application to track your health and fitness goals or installed the turf at your team’s football stadium. Answering our vocational calling to work paves the pathway for prosperity. I learned a strong work ethic from a young age on my family farm. Like many Iowans, I grew up valuing work as noble and important. The dignity of work is worth celebrating. Happy Labor Day.