Enjoy Labor Day while we still can

There is greater than zero chance—a likelihood, in fact—that Monday you will need to make a run to the grocery store.

Some of you may start the morning with a routine jaunt to a monolithic chain coffee shop for your first candied jolt of caffeine.

A fortunate few of you may be waking up in your hotel room (or even the looming Chula Vista bayside resort) on the last day of your vacation, having slept in a tidied room cleaned by unseen hands.

On the other hand, an unfortunate few of you may find yourselves at an urgent care or even the emergency room where technicians, nurses and doctors will do their best to patch you up and send you on your way to mend and live another day.

The common theme in all these scenarios is interaction with people we deemed “essential workers” back in the early days of the 2020 pandemic.

While a large portion of the country enjoys an extra day off this weekend, those people will be attending to the needs of those of us lucky enough to be participating in the 9 to 5 grind. Nationally the unemployment rate hovers near 4 percent though in the county it appears closer to 4.5 percent.

Many of the fields we considered essential—medical, grocery and service related—are populated by members of labor unions.

Labor organizers and unions played key roles in capturing for us the two-day weekends and eight-hour work days. They advocate against exploitation and negotiate for better working conditions.

They even manage to occasionally secure higher wages for employees. These days with increasing grocery prices and the spastic rise of fuel prices, every little bit helps.

This weekend spare a thought for those whose job it is to make our lives comfortable. The essential ones who help gather and distribute the food we eat, who build the homes we live in and the roads we travel on and the doctor appointments we dread.

With the way technology and automation are moving and growing, there is no telling how many of us will be considered indispensable and employable in the future. Enjoy Labor Day while we can.