Commentary: As we celebrate Labor Day, let's not forget the low-paid workers right here in Croton-on-Hudson who struggle every day to make ends meet.

Among others, some 65 school workers are still fighting for a decent contract. They go into mediation with the school district on September 25.

Barbara Ehrenreich/ Mother Jones

Two years ago this Labor Day weekend, the U.S. working class lost one of its most ardent students and champions. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author and political activist, died at the age of 81. Long well known among left activists, Ehrenreich’s biggest foray into the American mainstream probably came with the publication of her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, a memoir of her three-month attempt to survive on a series of minimum-wage jobs.

The village of Croton-on-Hudson today is well above the national and state average in terms of income and education level. But those who count themselves as part of “Old Croton” frequently remind us of the working class roots of our community—roots that stretch back to the railroad and dam workers who put Croton on the map in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Of course there are still a fair number of working class residents and employees who live and work here, even if their numbers have diminished in recent years, as death, taxes, and skyrocketing housing costs have led to a significant attrition (something the Board of Trustee’s promotion of affordable housing in the village may alleviate to some extent, although that remains to be seen.)

But while most Crotonites may spend today getting the barbecue ready or maybe even attending the Hudson River Festival at Senasqua Park, we hope that villagers will give some thought to a group of low-paid workers who return to their jobs tomorrow, the first day of school: The roughly 65 members of the Aides of Croton United, teachers’s aides and lunch room workers whose low wages and poor working conditions have met only muted attention and sympathy in this community known for liberal and progressive activism, as well as “What School Can Be” educational boosterism.

At the latest count, the Chronicle has published at least seven articles about the struggle of these workers to get a better contract (we broke the original story about their campaign last April.) Indeed, when they return to their jobs tomorrow, they will be working on a contract that actually expired last June. The failure of the Board of Education and the district to meet what we think are their modest and reasonable demands caused talks between the two sides to break down in June. The two sides will go into mediation beginning September 25.

The Board of Education will begin meeting again this week. It’s an opportunity for Crotonites, including the parents whose children benefit so greatly from the value these workers add to the educational environment, to show up and show their support for the school workers, as many have done in past months.

After all, for many or most of us, Labor Day is really nearly every day of the year. Let’s not forget what the holiday was meant to celebrate: The critical role that the American working class has played in building our country and keeping it strong.

School workers at a Board of Education meeting earlier this year.

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