All work should be respected and valued. There is no job too small or dirty or messy or hidden away that doesn’t deserve to be respected and valued.

Include the people who cut your grass, clean your house, tend to your elderly parents in the nursing home, work as aides in your children’s classroom, take care of your children while you are at work, mop the floors in the schools, hospitals, train stations, government buildings, sweep the streets and pick up the garbage, wash the dishes in your favorite restaurant, and work in sweatshops to make the cheap clothing we love to buy.  We/they are everywhere.

And don’t forget all the moms and dads who work at home and don’t get paid and don’t get benefits for doing the most important work of raising children.

I am the daughter and granddaughter of union workers.  I belonged to the ILGWU when I worked as a bookkeeper in the garment district.  I belonged to a teachers union when I worked in the public schools and at Housatonic Community College.  I am proud to be from and in the working class.

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