Recently, I was honored to introduce Fort Dodge’s own Jane Burleson as she was inducted into the Iowa Federation of Labor’s Hall of Fame. Jane’s incredible story is a reminder that the labor movement is not just about contracts and wages; it’s about people who spend their lives fighting for fairness, dignity, and opportunity for everyone.

As I drove back up from Des Moines, I was thinking that every year around this time, I see a lot of Labor Day imagery. Barbecues. Hands clutching hammers. And always, American flags.

And I think to myself, of course the flag is there. Because labor is America. Hard work is America. The working class is America.

Our history is written not just by presidents and politicians, but by miners, steelworkers, teachers, nurses, meatpackers, postal carriers like my dad, firefighters like my brother… by people whose hands and backs and minds built this country. Labor is not a side note in our history. It is the story of our history.

And yet, so many in positions of power seem to remember the working class only for one holiday weekend a year. They wave the flag, but forget the people who have carried it forward. They honor the idea of “hard work” strangely without honoring the workers themselves.

So today, I want to say thank you.

Thank you to unions for weekends, for safe workplaces, for paid time off, for health care, for pensions like IPERS, for the Family Medical Leave Act. Thank you for reminding America that a fair wage, a safe shift, and a voice on the job are not privileges; they are rights.

Mama Jane knew this truth and lived it. She worked decades in the packinghouse, served as secretary of UPWA Local 31, and carried her union values into every part of our community, from council chambers to the cut floor to the kitchen table where she baked her famous sweet potato pies. She believed deeply that when workers rise, the community and country rise with them.

So this Labor Day, let’s not just wave the flag. Let’s remember who stitched it, who raised it, who kept it flying through every storm. Let’s honor labor not once a year, but every single day.

And if you want to celebrate together, once again, I’ll be at the annual Labor Day Weekend Picnic in Fort Dodge this Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. at AFES, organized by my friends at the Western Iowa Labor Federation. Everyone is welcome. Everyone has a seat at the picnic table.

Congratulations again to Jane Burleson on her well-deserved induction into the Iowa Federation of Labor Hall of Fame. And thank you, unions, for giving America our backbone.

Happy Labor Day.

Niki Conrad is the chairwoman of the Webster County Board of Supervisors.