The Wrestler and Labor Day
Here in the United States, today marks Labor Day, often called “the unofficial end of summer.” It has turned into a day of parties and barbecues, but we really miss the point of Labor Day, and a movie that I saw the other day reminded me of the lessons of Labor Day.
Struggling to Build a Life
The movie that brought the point home about the lessons of Labor Day was The Wrestler, a 2008 movie starring Mickey Rourke as a washed-up professional wrestler who is trying to put his life together after he suffers a heart attack. The ultimate thrust of the movie involves questions of fame and people who try to find success outside of their chosen field.
However, there was something else that struck me as one of the undercurrents of the movie. In the making-of special, the director, Darren Aronofsky, explains that the movie is somewhat based on a subculture of wrestlers who never make it to the top levels of the field, and several who were once big stars who still wrestle at the lower levels today, such as King Kong Bundy. The money really isn’t good at that level at all, so there is a good chance that some of them continue to wrestle because they have to do so financially.
The Importance of Labor Unions
Most professional athletes are represented by labor unions, and despite arguments about greedy athletes, I think that this is one of the examples of the success of fighting for the long-term interests of the athletes. In a field where people are past their prime at an early age, there is a need to provide for people once their earning potential is gone or significantly reduced. However, the WWE is not unionized, and despite the billions it makes every year, most athletes do not make enough money to develop a secure retirement or any sort of pension program to take care of them once their days in the square circle are done.
The question of the importance of labor unions is one that is also very important to me on a personal level. When I was 11 years old, my mom had a gangrenous gall bladder that was removed only after an eight-month delay because my dad’s non-union job at the time did not have enough employees to afford to get a group rate for health insurance. A few years later, he got a union job, and within three months, we knew that we never had to worry about anything like that again. For this reason, you will never hear me complain about any group that wants to make sure that hard-working people earn more money and receive benefits for their work.
Why Today is Labor Day
In most industrialized nations, workers are celebrated on May 1, rather than the first Monday in September. However, in 1893, there was a railroad workers’ strike that ended violently. Rather than give workers rights, President Grover Cleveland decided to create a holiday instead. As someone who comes from central Appalachia, I know the history of our region in terms of the fight for workers’ rights, including the the battles in Matewan, West Virginia, in 1920, and Harlan County, Kentucky, known as “Bloody Harlan.” In the 1930′s, workers finally won the right to organize. So, as we think of time off, we should take this time to remember the people who made it possible.
Tags: Labor Day, labor unions, organized labor, The Wrestler
This entry was posted on Monday, September 6th, 2010 at 11:53 pm and is filed under Business, Culture, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 19th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Hi Steve,
interesting take on Labour Day. I have already been wondering why the US have their Labour Day in September instead of 1st of May. Now I know that. Thanks for sharing.
Take care
Oliver
.-= Oliver Tausend´s last blog ..Lessons From “Think And Grow Rich” – Chapter 2 “Desire” =-.
September 20th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Thank you for your reply, Oliver! I know that here in the US with the labor dispute between the NFL and the NFL Players’ Association and people who like to make political football over the wages of union autoworkers, I think that it is important to remember the gains working people have made. I am glad that you now know why it is when it is.
To tell you the truth, I only found that out the reason for a September Labor Day a couple of years ago when I saw some website complaining that our Labor Day isn’t May 1st. I’ll keep sharing if you keep reading.
September 28th, 2010 at 1:45 am
Hi Steve,
I did not know this about unions. Thanks for helping us all remember that we must remember the past and the people that made it possible for us to live such free and prosperous lives!
Stacia
.-= Stacia Hopkins´s last blog ..Need More Content Testimonials Here’s the answer… =-.
October 5th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Hi, Stacia. Thank you for your reply! I apologize for not getting back in touch with you sooner. I just started a new day job, so I haven’t had a chance to look at my blog for a while. I’m just curious, which part did you not know about unions? I am glad I could help you learn a little bit more. Coming from a very blue-collar state like West Virginia that is not a so-called “right to work” state (those are laws that are put in place to make it more difficult to organize), unions are a pretty big part of the fabric of your life, even if you aren’t from a union family. My dad joined the union in 1996, and I know that our standard of living shot way up after that. (The job he had before that had only six employees, so there really isn’t any chance to organize or get group benefits when an organization is that small.) I think that we must also realize that not everyone is an entrepreneur, and that’s okay, too, which means that I will always stand up for those who are helping make sure that our workers are protected.
For example, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that almost all of the coal mining tragedies of late are in non-union mines. People I know who’ve worked in both said that unions always make sure that the safety and quality of the worker are at the forefront of any job.
September 6th, 2011 at 1:43 am
Steve the Owl's Blog » Blog Archive » Do Unions Still Matter? says:[...] Labor Day today. Earlier, I posted about my job as a graduate student teacher at Temple University. Last year, while examining the movie The Wrestler, I looked at the ways that this shows the need for unions [...]