Rosner D, Markowitz G
Program in the History of Public Health and Medicine, Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Am J Public Health. 1999 Sep;89(9):1319-21. doi: 10.2105/ajph.89.9.1319.
We celebrate Labor Day every year with barbecues and picnics, rarely remembering that the holiday was born in the midst of tremendous labor struggles to improve working conditions. In the last century, 16-hour workdays and 6- and 7-day workweeks led to terribly high injury rates in the nation's mines and mills. Thousands upon thousands of workers died, caught in the grinding machinery of our growing industries. Today, despite improvements, thousands of workers still die in what has been described as a form of war on the American workforce. This commentary reminds us of the historical toll in lives and limbs that workers have paid to provide us with our modern prosperity. It also reminds us that the continuing toll is far too high and that workers who died and continue to die in order to produce our wealth deserve to be remembered and honored on this national holiday.
我们每年都通过烧烤和野餐来庆祝劳动节，却很少记得这个节日诞生于为改善工作条件而进行的巨大劳工斗争之中。在上个世纪，16小时的工作日以及每周6天、7天的工作周导致美国的矿山和工厂工伤率极高。成千上万的工人丧生，被卷入我们不断发展的工业的碾压机器之中。如今，尽管情况有所改善，但仍有成千上万的工人死于一场被形容为针对美国劳动力的战争。这篇评论让我们想起工人为给我们带来现代繁荣所付出的生命和肢体的历史代价。它也提醒我们，持续付出的代价仍然过高，那些为创造我们的财富而死去以及仍在死去的工人理应在这个国家节日里被铭记和敬重。
