Labor Day
It's the start of a 3 day weekend, in recognition of Labor Day. Contrary to how things seem to go at our house over this traditional weekend, it's not the designated weekend to finish house chores before snow flies. Labor Day is actually a day to recognize organized labor - unions for those of you who avoid euphemisms - and the importance of workers and collective action to our nation. According to
History.com (http://www.history.com/topics/labor-day) "On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history." The late 1800's were (to put it mildly) a tough time for the average American, when capitalism and the rise of business barons meant that cheap labor in mills and factories was desirable - for everyone except the workers, who averaged 12 hour days and sometimes were as young as 5 or 6.
PBS (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/business/july-dec01/labor_day_9-2.html)
provides some insight into the day: "In 1898, Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, called it 'the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed...that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it.' "
Nowadays most folks probably think of Labor Day as a 3 day weekend, often the last long weekend of summer. There's a bloody and hard fought history to it though. A fact I bet my mom is glad I'm acknowledging....
History.com (http://www.history.com/topics/labor-day) "On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history." The late 1800's were (to put it mildly) a tough time for the average American, when capitalism and the rise of business barons meant that cheap labor in mills and factories was desirable - for everyone except the workers, who averaged 12 hour days and sometimes were as young as 5 or 6.
PBS (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/business/july-dec01/labor_day_9-2.html)
provides some insight into the day: "In 1898, Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, called it 'the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed...that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it.' "
Nowadays most folks probably think of Labor Day as a 3 day weekend, often the last long weekend of summer. There's a bloody and hard fought history to it though. A fact I bet my mom is glad I'm acknowledging....
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