It occurs to me on this solemn day when we’re rightly memorializing the dead from the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and the crash in Pennsylvania, why does organized labor not use Labor Day to memorialize all the dead from past labor disputes?

It could start with some of the items on Erik Loomis’s excellent series called “This Day in Labor History.” One of the most famous labor tragedies was The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City, but it wasn’t the only one. There was The Ludlow Massacre in Colorado, The Matewan Massacre in West Virginia, and The Centralia Massacre in Washington State. There were a whole lot of other violent episodes in American labor history, with the cops usually on the side of the business owners. The Pinkertons made a name for themselves as union-busting thugs as much as for being detectives. They were highly visible at The Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania, and subsequent activities of the company eventually caused Congress to write into law in 1893 a prohibition against the Federal Government and the District of Columbia ever hiring “the Pinkerton Agency or similar agency.”

Just a thought.