By Kerri O’Brien and Darren Yelin, Co-Founders, LaborForce MediaWelcome to our LaborForce Media Founder’s Letter June edition, where we share updates, reflections, and plans for the future. In this LaborForce Media Founder’s Letter June communication, we highlight why this month matters so much to us and our community.
June has a way of changing the pace of life.
The school year winds down. The evenings stretch longer. Dinner happens a little later. Kids stay outside until the porch lights come on. Families gather in backyards, on stoops, at ballfields, beaches, parks, and neighborhood blocks. There is something about June that invites us to slow down just enough to remember what matters.
For many of us, it brings back the kind of memories that shaped who we are: catching lightning bugs in glass jars, listening to our parents and grandparents tell stories we had heard a hundred times before, staying up past bedtime because summer felt like a gift, and learning without realizing it that family history is passed down in ordinary moments.
That spirit is why June feels like the right month to talk about men’s health. Moreover, this is a key topic for the LaborForce Media Founder’s Letter June as we reflect on worker well-being.
Men’s Health Month is not just about doctor’s appointments, screenings, or statistics, although those things matter deeply. It is about the men who hold families together, show up to hard jobs, coach teams, fix what is broken, carry quiet burdens, and too often put their own health last. It is about fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, uncles, grandfathers, friends, coworkers, union brothers, and mentors. It is about making sure the people who spend their lives taking care of others are also cared for.
In the labor community, this message matters. The men and women who build, teach, drive, protect, heal, serve, repair, respond, manufacture, maintain, and lead our communities know what it means to push through. There is pride in that toughness. But real strength also means paying attention. It means getting the check-up. Asking the question. Talking about stress. Taking the walk. Making the call. Going home safe. Being present for the people who love you.
June is also National Safety Month, a reminder that health does not begin and end in the doctor’s office. It lives on job sites, in firehouses, in transit yards, in schools, in hospitals, in public works departments, in sanitation routes, in correctional facilities, in kitchens, warehouses, offices, and every workplace where people depend on one another. Safety is not a slogan. It is a promise: that every worker deserves to return home with their body, mind, and dignity intact. We emphasize these values throughout our LaborForce Media Founder’s Letter June message.
This month, we also recognize Juneteenth and the ongoing work of freedom, fairness, dignity, and opportunity. Labor has always been part of that story. The right to work safely, earn fairly, organize, advocate, and build a better future is tied to the larger American promise that progress must include everyone.
We also honor the many worker recognition days and professional communities highlighted in June, including those in safety, public service, skilled trades, transportation, education, environmental services, health care, emergency response, and the many behind-the-scenes workers who keep families and communities moving. Some workers are highly visible. Others do their work before sunrise, after dark, or in places most people never see. LaborForce exists to make sure those stories are told.
And then there is Father’s Day.
For some, Father’s Day is joyful. For others, it is complicated. Many people are remembering fathers they miss, fathers they never had, or father figures who stepped in when they were needed most. This June, we hope the day becomes an invitation to reach out, share a story, say thank you, forgive where possible, and recognize the men who have shaped us.
Our hope for Men’s Health Month is simple: let this be the month we make health feel human again.
Not clinical. Not intimidating. Not something we put off until there is a crisis. Human.
A walk after dinner. A real conversation. A scheduled screening. A union wellness event. A reminder to a coworker. A quiet check-in with a friend who has not seemed like himself. A long evening outside with family, telling stories while the kids chase lightning bugs and the adults remember who taught them how to work hard, stand tall, and keep going.
LaborForce Media is committed to using this month to elevate men’s health, worker safety, family wellness, and the stories of the people who power this country every day. We believe healthier workers build stronger families. Stronger families build stronger communities. Stronger communities build a stronger labor movement. Indeed, sharing these priorities is central to this LaborForce Media Founder’s Letter June update.
So this June, take the appointment. Take the walk. Take the extra few minutes with your family. Ask the older generation to tell the story again. Let the kids stay outside a little longer. Look out for the men in your life, and let them know that taking care of themselves is not weakness. It is responsibility. It is leadership. It is love.
Here’s to a healthy, safe, meaningful June.
Kerri O’Brien and Darren Yelin
Co-Founders, LaborForce Media
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