Louisiana Voice

I hope everyone had a happy Labor Day – although I know those who have lost their jobs, their health insurance, their businesses and who are facing eviction from their homes, thanks to the failure of the Trump administration to properly and adequately address the coronavirus, may not have had a very pleasant holiday.

But I hope everyone understands why we have a Labor Day observance. It’s to recognize the laborers of America and their respective organizations that are responsible for many perks enjoyed by those to do still have jobs.

Thanks to organized labor, we have a five-day, 40-hour work week as opposed to six- and seven-day, 60-hour (and more) work weeks. Because of organized labor child labor has been abolished as have the sweat shops were women and children once worked in inhuman conditions. You can thank labor for sick leave, paid vacations, medical and retirement benefits. Thanks to organized labor (and some early 20th century news reporters and Republican President Teddy Roosevelt), we have pure food, more sanitary meat processing plants and improved worker safety. And it is organized labor which is largely responsible for the minimum wage – which the Republicans at both the state and national level are doing their best to keep at an inadequate, unlivable $7.25 per hour.

I hope that those who are still working and who have the financial resources will also remember the efforts of LouisianaVoice to bring independent (as in no advertising other than what Word Press sneaks onto my blog without my consent or knowledge) journalism to you.

It takes time and money to investigate some of the stories I cover. I’m in the process of writing a couple of stories as you read this, but again, it takes money to travel, pay for public records and in some cases, sue the custodians of records for some records they don’t want to surrender.

I humbly ask that you help

LouisianaVoice is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit entity now, so your contributions is fully tax-deductible.

You may contribute by credit card by clicking on the yellow DONATE button in the column to the right of this post. You may need to scroll up to find it. It looks like this but as always, DO NOT click here because this one doesn’t work. Go to column on the right and click on that one.

If the yellow button doesn’t work or if you wish to pay by mail, make your check payable to LouisianaVoice and address it to:

LouisianaVoice

P.O. Box 922

Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727

Those giving $100 or more will get a signed copy of my latest book Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption.

As always, thank you for your support of LouisianaVoice for 10 years.