Maeve Higgins: Sanitation workers as important as politicians

Labor Day in the US has never been fully connected to workers. Rather, I associate it with stampedes at shopping centres, with shoppers tripping over themselves to get ever bigger TVs at ever lower prices

Dr Martin Luther King Jr: In 1968, Dr King was going from state to state in support of the Poor People’s Campaign for economic justice. Picture: AP 

I never know quite what to do with myself on American holidays. Joining in with traditions I didn’t grow up with can feel a little forced. Cut to a viral video of me wearing a cowgirl hat and stars-and-stripes tankini winning a hot-dog eating competition in Coney Island this coming Labor Day!

I wish — but that can’t actually happen because I won’t be anywhere near Coney Island or candy floss or any other fun places this Monday. It is Labor Day in the US, a federal holiday, but like many of us I will be too busy working to celebrate.