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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is celebrating Labor Day weekend by standing up for unions and taking down the Koch Brothers.

In a statement Sen. Sanders said,

Today, we salute the trade union movement and all Americans who are fighting for the needs of working families. The sad reality of today’s America is that while the wealthiest people and largest corporations are doing phenomenally well, the middle class is disappearing and millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages. Congress must start listening to the needs of ordinary Americans, not just the billionaire class and their lobbyists. We can create millions of new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and dramatically improve life for low-wage workers by raising the minimum wage. We need new trade policies to prevent corporations from throwing American workers out on the street and running to China for cheap labor and we need new tax policies so they can’t stash their profits in foreign tax havens. We need real campaign finance reform so that the Koch brothers and other billionaires are no longer able to buy elections. In other words, we need an agenda that works for all Americans, and not just the very rich.

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Sen. Sanders was correct. Unions will never come back as long as billionaires like the Koch brothers are buying members of Congress. Labor Day is supposed to be a day to celebrate the achievements of American workers, but what used to be a holiday will be a regular Monday for millions of Americans. Decades of the conservative war against the labor movement has transformed Labor Day into an ironic reminder of what American workers have lost.

The intention of the Koch agenda is to transform American workers into low paid wage slaves with no rights. Republicans and their money men rail against “regulations,” but those regulations are the basic wages, standards, and safety laws that Republicans want to eliminate. Labor Day can return to the holiday that it used to be. There could still be many great chapters written in the labor movement.

An agenda change is needed. Instead of a government that works for billionaires and big corporations, the nation needs an agenda that rebuilds the middle class and jumpstarts our economic engine. Progress won’t occur as long as the Koch own Republicans are in the way. This is why now more than ever, the American people need to go to the polls and take their government back.