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USA Edition | Today Is Monday, September 6, 2010 |
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Labor Day -- In Celebration Of Generations Of American Workers
Washington
A Long And Winding Road
After 100 years there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday.
Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, was among first to suggest a day honoring labor.Peter’s father, Matthew Maguire, was the first to propose the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.
Labor Day was 12 years in the making. The Knights of Labor, under the Central Labor Union, adopted a Labor Day proposal and organized the first recorded Labor Day celebration September 5, 1882.
The March To Wendel’s Elm Park
Perhaps 10,000 workers assembled in New York City for a march from City Hall, passing by reviewing stands in Union Square, winding its way uptown to 42nd Street. There workers and their families gathered in Wendel’s Elm Park for a picnic, concert, and speeches, bringing workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view.
The first municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886, developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but on February 21, 1887 Oregon acted first to enact the bill into State law. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers.
Politics, Money And The American Worker
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day, “is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.”
The Pullman Strike, organized by Eugene Debs‘ American Railway Union, began as a wildcat strike in response to wage and worker reductions following the 1843 depression. The strike effectively paralyzed the nations railway system from Chicago Westward.
President Cleveland sent U. S. Marshals and some 12,000 Army troops to restore normalcy. This was the first time a federal injunction had ever been used to break up a strike. Pullman’s model for handling labor problems had failed and became a catalyst in the formation of Labor Day.
In the aftermath of the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the military, it became clear that the lives of American workers would never improve until they projected their strength at the ballot box.
Thereafter, a clear delineation of competing forces emerged: labor and capital.
President Cleveland Makes It Official
On June 28th, 1894 President Grover Cleveland signed legislation establishing Labor Day as a Federal Holiday.
Labor Day is still celebrated in cities and towns across the United States with parades, picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays and other public gatherings. For many Americans, particularly children and young adults, it represents the end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.
For the American worker whose toil, sweat and craft, has contributed to produce something of worth and value, this day is not about parades. This day is about pride - a honest days wage for a honest days work.