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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Minnesota Marks Labor Day Holiday

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Friday, August 31, 2007   

St. Paul, MN – Labor Day Weekend will find Minnesotans enjoying one last summer break, but also remembering workers from all walks of life for their contributions to the nation’s strength and economy. Steve Hunter is with the state AFL-CIO and says the holiday is designed to acknowledge workers' efforts to create a strong middle class and world-class economy.

"Prior to the start of the labor movement in the 19th century, there really was no middle class in the United States. The middle class was built through organized labor being able to negotiate contracts that provided decent wages and benefits for their employees."

Hunter notes union membership has fallen in recent years. He blames company opposition and anti-labor policies and says there is a way to get labor and management back into balance.

"One-in-five people who try to organize unions end up getting fired illegally. That is just one of a number of ways some employers discourage organizing. We have a proposal called the ‘Employees Free Choice Act,’ which would enable employees who desire a union to have a union without having to go through quite so many hoops and clear quite so many barriers."

Hunter says the AFL-CIO is launching a drive this Labor Day holiday to promote quality, affordable health care for its members and retirees.

"16 percent of people do not have health care in the United States. We’re losing jobs to foreign corporations that don’t need to pay health care benefits for their employees. We’re running into trouble in contract negotiations, trying to maintain benefits for members."

The Labor Day holiday began in 1882, as a day off for the “working man.” It became a national holiday 12 years later. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day is a “national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.”




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