MIDDLETOWN – On Labor Day, today, strong labor translates into a strong economy, according to Sparrow Tobin, the secretary-treasurer of the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation.
Tobin, who is expected to be elected president of the federation next week, said people are seeing a strong connection between the middle class and organized labor.
“When organized labor goes down, so do everybody’s benefits and some of the working conditions and when organized labor is strong like it was in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, or even before then, the middle class rises too, because we are not just fighting for our union and our workers, we are fighting for everybody,” he said. “That is our goal of the labor federations; we are trying to improve the lives and working conditions of working people, not just unions.”
Tobin said the recent Janis decision, was a setback to public employees, but labor found ways to “recommit and double up our commitment to maintaining our membership and reminding people what we we’re fighting for.”
