Labor Day is more than just a day to tearfully say goodbye to the remnants of summer. It's a day to commemorate the labor movement and reflect on what still needs to get done.

The El Paso Central Labor Union hosted its 44th annual Labor Day Breakfast on Monday morning with a slew of speakers that included state Rep. Mary González and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz for Texas' U.S. Senate seat.

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Gloria Rosado, an organizer for the event, said the breakfast serves as a place for all the labor unions in El Paso to come together and celebrate the movement. She was happy to have O'Rourke as a speaker.

"Beto has been with us for many, many years," Rosado said. "It's like having an old friend back."

A number of present and former El Paso elected officials were present at Monday's breakfast, including former Mayor Oscar Leeser; state Sen. José Rodríguez; state Rep. Cesar Blanco; city Reps. Peter Svarzbein, Cissy Lizarraga and Alexsandra Annello; and former County Judge Veronica Escobar, the Democratic nominee to replace O'Rourke in the 16th Congressional District.

Michelle Carpenter said the breakfast Monday was the first time she had heard O'Rourke speak. Even though she is not an American citizen, she hopes to get her citizenship so she can get more involved.

"It's my first time coming. I thought he was very inspiring," Carpenter said. "It was very exciting and I really enjoyed it."

Here are some takeaways from O'Rourke's fiery address at the Labor Day Breakfast.

2018 is a 'moment of truth' for U.S.

O'Rourke said this year has been a defining moment for the United States, and 2018 is the year we will decide whether we become a country of walls or a welcoming one.

O'Rourke spoke passionately and reminded the audience that many immigrant children who were forcibly separated from their parents at the border have not been reunited with their families.

"Right now, as we enjoy this breakfast and our freedom, there are still hundreds of children, all across the U.S., in foster homes as far away as Michigan and tent camps as close as Tornillo, who don't know where their parents are right now," O'Rourke said.

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O'Rourke said even the faces of those children who have been reunited with their parents often have a vacant look because the forced separations and time apart have made it difficult for children to re-connect with their parents.

"This moment, and our response to it, will define us forever — I'm convinced of it," O'Rourke said.

Teachers work hard

A number of teachers unions were represented at Monday's breakfast, including the Socorro ISD chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. O'Rourke said he wants to make sure teachers and retired educators are paid a living wage that they earned from years in the classroom.

O'Rourke said teachers are often tasked with teaching toward a high-stakes, high-pressure standardized test rather than toward a child's needs, and they are asked to carry the burden of rising health care costs without significant cost-of-living wage adjustments.

"In this state that does not allow teachers to organize and strike, we will organize for those teachers," O'Rourke said.

We need to talk about the war on drugs

O'Rourke said the United States' war on drugs is fueling the profits of cartels and criminals, as well as building up the prison population, while costing the country trillions — all that without any decrease in the supply available to drug users.

O'Rourke said it's time for lawmakers to have conversations and act on legalizing marijuana and expunging arrest records of those prosecuted for possession.

"Who will be the last man — chances are the last Hispanic or African-American man — to be doing time for something that's legal in the majority of this country today?" O'Rourke asked.

Privatization won't solve anything

The efforts to privatize government services like education, prisons and immigration detention centers are hurting the country, O'Rourke said.

"There's a mandate for the number of heads in beds every night that are great for the bottom line, great for the profit margin and shareholders, but are not good for this country," O'Rourke said.

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O'Rourke said the Trump administration's efforts to privatize the VA are wrong and that veterans are already facing 40,000 clinical shortages at VA facilities.

"To end the VA as we know it, to privatize it and hope those military veterans and retirees will be OK, is unconscionable," O'Rourke said.

'El Paso is awesome'

O'Rourke showed a lot of love for his hometown on Monday and said that the city's success and diversity can be an example for the rest of Texas and the United States.

O'Rourke said that one of his favorite parts of campaigning has been sharing El Paso's qualities and accomplishments with other Texans.

O'Rourke thanked his supporters and reminded the audience that there are 49 days left until the start of early voting Oct. 22.

"Forty-nine days stand between us and the future, fortune and fate of this country," O'Rourke said. "The reason I'm so encouraged is because I know we're a match to this moment — the paranoia, pettiness, weakness, hatred, outright racism and bigotry that dominates so much of the national conversation. Texas, led by the people of El Paso, we will be the response."

Sara Sanchez can be reached at 546-6147; ssanchez@elpasotimes.com; @siempresarita on Twitter.