It’s Labor Day, Got Work?

Got work? My grandfather, Walter Sargent, would ask his friends that. He was sincere. I heard him say it more than once and thought it was an odd thing to ask a friend. It makes perfectly good sense to me now. Living through the Great Depression wasn’t easy. People were glad to have work- any kind of work. So he wouldn’t ask, “Do you have a challenging job?” Or, “How long before your next promotion?” Or, “Is this career going anywhere?” Nope- just, “Got work?”

He was an ironworker all his life. He started at 15 carrying hot rivets and built the Amoskeag Bank on Elm Street in 1911. He worked on all the bridges in Manchester and Portsmouth. He worked on submarines at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. He worked on the Prudential building in Boston. He walked high on skyscrapers. He was fearless. He was a good man. I loved him. He taught me a lot- especially the importance of a good work ethic.

He was a union man. He was in at the ground level- when unions were the only force fighting for a living wage. When he started as an ironworker he was a child laborer. Today we take our working conditions for granted, not even thinking about how they came about. Child labor laws, minimum wage, 40 hour week, worker benefits, safety laws- these changes didn’t come easily. People suffered to bring about better working conditions. That’s why we remember Labor Day.

Today, 9.7% of the working population is unemployed. I’m sure they’re asking their friends that old Depression Era line- “Got work?”