Today being Labor Day America's union members will be out celebrating, picnicing, and BBQ'ing. As I type thousands of Chicago teachers are marching and rallying in preparation for a strike on September 10th.
Which is all good. But none of America's traditional labor organizations has said a word about the massacre of thirty-four union miners in South Africa on August 16th. At least that I can find. Try going to union websites. (e.g., The Teamsters, The Chicago Teachers' Union, SEIU, even the United Mine Workers). Not even a mention of the massacre. Try Google searching for anything suggesting a condemnation of the massacre by American labor unions or labor leaders. Nothing.
Not only were union members massacred, but those that survived the hail of police bullets were then CHARGED WITH THE MURDERS under an obscure, apartheid-era law that is still on the books. (These charges have been 'provisionally' withdrawn after massive outrage across the globe -- but not any that I know of from American labor unions).
This was cold-blooded slaughter.
And there is nothing but silence from organizations whose motto is
'An injury to one is an injury to all'
.
Go ahead and enjoy your BBQ this afternoon.