Ted Kennedy wasn’t kidding when he was fighting for a better life for workers.

Here’s a sampling of his passion during a fight to raise the minimum wages after ten years of no increase:

After five days of debate on the Senate floor, Kennedy was losing his cool. How could senators still be debating a paltry $2 increase in the minimum wage, after a decade that saw an economic boon for corporations and the richest Americans, and little for the working stiffs:

“We have not had the United States Senate go on record and say to working families in this country that they aught to get a raise. $240 billion in tax breaks for corporations, $36 billion in tax breaks for small businesses, increasing productivity, 42 percent over last ten years, but do you think there’s any increase in the minimum wage, no.”

He brought similar zeal to all the worker issues he championed, everything from family leave to worker safety.

His labor agenda was a patchwork of initiatives that weren’t popular with many conservatives in Congress and he was often derided as a bleeding heart commie for his efforts, but he kept the drumbeat going even when he was battling brain cancer this past year:

*Promoting paid sick days for workers. Over half of American workers do not have paid sick days. Senator Kennedy’s Healthy Families Act will guarantee working Americans seven paid sick days to care for their own and their families’ medical needs. Providing paid sick days will build strong families, protect our children, and safeguard our public health.

*Protecting Workers’ Right to Organize. In today’s insecure economy, when too many working families are struggling just to make ends meet, it is more important than ever that workers have a voice at work. Senator Kennedy’s Employee Free Choice Act helps workers get their fair share of our nation’s economic growth by supporting the basic right of workers to choose their own representative. It puts real teeth in the law by strengthening the penalties for discrimination against workers who favor a union. And it will allow employees to choose a union when a majority of them sign an authorization designating a union as their bargaining representative.

*Strengthening Retirement Security. Workers deserve to retire in dignity, not in poverty. Senator Kennedy’s priorities include expanding retirement security for all American workers and finding ways to prevent corporations from using the bankruptcy courts to dump workers’ pensions while awarding big bonuses to executives. He will also continue the fight to protect Social Security.

*Strengthening Worker Safety. Too many American workers still face hazardous conditions at work. Senator Kennedy wants to make all workplaces safer by passing the Protecting America’s Workers Act to cover more workers, give families a role in safety investigations, strengthen protections for whistleblowers, and increase penalties for repeated safety violators. He will build on the MINER Act to make additional advances in mine safety legislation. Kennedy also plans to exercise close oversight over MSHA and OSHA to ensure that they vigorously enforce our safety laws and issue needed safety standards.

Here’s a labor view from one of my favorite labor experts Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University:

Ted Kennedy was one of the strongest advocates of workers and organized labor ever in the Congress, carrying on and even exceeding the reputation and work of his brothers Jack and Bobby. His major influence came because of his seniority and notoriety, and he was able to cross over party lines, forming for example, a joint effort with Orin Hatch on health care for many years.

Kennedy major influence was felt in health care policy…he kept the issue alive after many years of unfriendly national administrations, and he was the one always emphasizing the large number of people left out of the system…those not covered. It’s ironic that he was too ill to see the most energetic push ever for health care reform.

Kennedy was also a major force behind the increase in the minimum wage, believing again that the government’s role re labor should be to lift workers out of poverty and into the middle class, with greater job and income security.

Kennedy was a huge presence in Congress and he used his presence, influence and outstanding staff to press for issues of concern for working families, particularly those on the fringes of the economy and society who had low paying and insecure jobs.

So with his dealth, the unions and workers in general lose a friend and advocate.

Much of what he wanted would surely be a boon for workers. It’s unclear who will step into Kennedy’s big labor shoes and help make some of these initiatives a reality.

I’m not giving Kennedy a pass for the many mistakes he made in his life. He was a heavy drinker, and he saw his reputation destroyed after the Chappaquiddick scandal where he drove his car off a bridge, leaving a young aide Mary Jo Kopechne dead.

While I don’t remember the incident when it happened, his decision to leave the accident scene always sullied my opinion of the guy. But maybe he tried to redeem himself with his mission to help working Americans.

No matter what his motivation, we should all spend a few seconds today mourning a flawed man who tried to do somethings right.