Tom Melcher and Morgan O’Brien: A different Labor Day, a real opportunity

Labor Day 2020 certainly is a far cry from this day one year ago. While much has changed, we want to focus on the positive, and the great opportunity now at hand.

Perhaps more than any Labor Day ever, we should all have a far greater appreciation for our region’s workforce — workers in the medical profession, law enforcement, grocery stores, agriculture, transportation, construction, energy and manufacturing, first responders and so many others who ensured we had the vital products and services needed to make it through the crisis.

While many of us were able to shelter and work from home, others in our brave workforce faced the direct threats of covid-19 daily.

We can’t forget our hospitality, food service and retail workers who’ve provided us quality services through the years. Thousands of them have lost their jobs and businesses permanently. They deserve our help and support.

The pandemic, hopefully, has taught us the true value of a day’s work, and, that all work has dignity.

So how should we honor all who labor for the greater benefit of us all? By ensuring that our region emerges stronger from the pandemic.

It is incumbent upon our political leadership to recognize the vital importance of working together with business, industry and labor to make our region the epicenter of the recovery. This will require strong support and action for expanding both traditional and emerging industries.

Critical to this effort is bringing back many of the manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas. We need to support and encourage bringing those jobs here to Southwestern Pennsylvania. Our know-how, our work ethic and our values around people and our environment make this the best place to build on our legacy, and to build our country’s future.

Pittsburgh Works Together, a consortium of organized labor, industry, manufacturing and civic leaders, has laid out a five-point agenda to harness the proud work ethic with the extraordinary resources of our region. This plan will ensure we have a strong economy and a healthy environment and maintain a high-quality standard of living for the Pittsburgh region.

Soon 2020 will be a memory. It will very likely represent a turning point in our history. It can be the moment when the Pittsburgh region reemerges as an industrial leader. We can apply our world-class workforce with advanced technologies to address and solve our country’s biggest challenges. Our region is poised to rebuild a strong, diverse and inclusive economy that will once again be the envy of America.

That’s a Labor Day ideal to which we can all subscribe. Let’s get to work and build it here.

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