As we mark the passage of another Labor Day, it’s worth taking stock of the state the US working class finds itself in amid the Great Recession. It is, in a word, dismal. Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson summed the situation up rather neatly in a recent editorial: “A union-free America. Growth down a little, employment down a lot. Profits and productivity up, wages flat. Health-care costs up for workers, down for employers. The return of a thriving middle class? Dream on.”

Since the near collapse of the global economy two years ago, US workers have been very quiet. Aside from the takeover of the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago in December 2008, the ongoing Mott’s strike in upstate New York, and a couple of other high-profile actions, most palpable discontent with the state of things has found public expression through the Tea Party and other manifestations of right-wing anxiety and rage.

Hearteningly, a large coalition of labor and progressive groups known as One Nation Working Together is organizing for what should be a large scale march for jobs in Washington, DC on October 2. I will be there, and every progressive with the time and wherewithal to go should be there too. Millions of Americans are suffering from un- and underemployment, and the short term focus of the Left should be pressuring the government to create jobs and extend unemployment insurance along with other forms of income security.