On Labor Day, let’s make more Louisiana workers owners

It was the middle of winter and I was working on an
oil rig. A huge storm hit. It was wet and freezing and I
caught pneumonia.
“This isn’t what I want to do for the rest of my life,” I
thought to myself.
I quit. I had worked making pizzas for Johnny’s
Pizza House during high school and still
had some good relationships with managers. I
thought I’d pick up a few hours while I figured
out what to do next.
I returned to Johnny’s and never left. As the
country celebrates Labor Day, I’m thinking of
my work journey. Over 15 years, I went from
delivery driver to assistant store manager to
store manager. I stayed because my voice matters
at Johnny’s. At the big oil company and a
prior job at a family-run cabinet shop, I had
never been asked my opinion, but at Johnny’s my managers
wanted to know what I thought all the time.