Like the Day Off? THANK THE UNION MOVEMENT!
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the
labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of
American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions
workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is
still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation
of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature
have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone
unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire,
founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that
Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International
Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while
serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is
that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a
committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September
5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor
Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year
later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday,
as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations
in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's
holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations,
and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor
Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed
during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state
legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature,
but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During
the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York —
created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade
Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other
states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year,
Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal
holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should
take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to
exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor
organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and
amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the
celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced
later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of
the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor
convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday
and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change
in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and
huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in
emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union
officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given
wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard
of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought
us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political
democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor
Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership
— the American worker.
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FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Imagine
it's a few days before the Dem convention. In a big—BIG—surprise,
Barack Obama names Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy his
vice-presidential running mate. You're a partisan Republican. Do you?:
Stay Informed. Stay healthy
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