Truth to Bobby

Dear Ms. Marfione,

Would you kindly share the below email message with Mr. Haynes? Best wishes for a blessed Thanksgiving.

“What does labor want?
We want more school houses and less jails.
More books and less guns.
More learning and less vice.
More leisure and less greed.
More justice and less revenge.
We want more ... opportunities to cultivate our better natures.”

Samuel Gompers Memorial
San Antonio, Texas

Samuel Gompers (January 27, 1850 – December 13, 1924) was an American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and served as the AFL's president from 1886-1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that were comprised by the AFL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted "thorough" organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor. He also encouraged the AFL to take political action to "elect their friends" and "defeat their enemies." During World War I, Gompers and the AFL worked with the government to avoid strikes and boost morale, without undermining union wage and hour standards. During that period, the AFL saw membership rise.

Dear Mr. Haynes,
I hope this will give you pause to reflect over the Thanksgiving holidays about the founding principles of the Commonwealth and the Labor movement that are in direct opposition to predatory gambling. Oppression of one group of people for the alleged benefit of others is wrong. Working and middle class families should not be strapped with the additional burden of subsidizing the known negative impacts of slots/casinos. The long-term economic drain and human sacrifices do not justify the temporary construction phase.

Respectfully,

Kathleen Conley Norbut
Monson