Email from Chrissy Houlahan, Dem candidate for US House PA-06, 9/5/18

Earlier this week, we observed Labor Day, a time to honor America’s workers and their families who, generation after generation, have carried this nation forward on their shoulders.

Labor Day was started in the 1880s, a time when many Americans worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week just to cover their basic needs. Many states without meaningful child labor laws saw 5 and 6-year-olds working in dangerous conditions in mills, factories, and mines all across the country.

America’s labor movement brought an end to many of these practices, banding together to bargain collectively for the 40-hour work week, safer working conditions, fair pay among other employment protections we take for granted today.

Despite this progress, Labor Day remains as important as ever. Workers and workers’ rights remain the backbone of the middle-class, something I’m committed to protecting in Washington — sign your name if you agree.

I am proud to have the support of the labor community and I am proud of the hundreds of quality jobs I have helped bring to Southeastern Pennsylvania over the course of my career.

I am now running for Congress to fight for middle class families and bring more good paying jobs to our community. Thousands of American workers still die on the job every year. Many workers are forced to put in overtime hours for no additional pay. Female workers and workers of color too often work for less than their counterparts. And if you account for inflation, our middle-income families haven’t gotten a meaningful pay raise in more than 40 years.

We have real work to do to build up the middle class, and I can’t think of a better way to honor the men and women who sparked this movement that made this progress possible than to continue building on their work in Washington.