What Labor Day Means in the United States

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." — Theodore Roosevelt

What Labor Day Means Today

September 5, 2022 gives many American workers a day off from work. Events are planned in families and neighborhoods - back yard cook outs, end-of-summer beach trips, local parades, athletic events, and shopping for Labor Day specials like summer apparel marked down or starting a new fall wardrobe.

To the children, it means shifting gears and resuming school classes, homework, and less leisure time - but one last holiday before getting into full gear of studying and school activiites.

It might be interesting to learn more about how Labor Day began in this country and how it might relate to living in the 21st century.

Origin Of Labor Day in the U.S.

Scroll back to the late 1800’s.

The Industrial Revolution had changed the bulk of the economy to manufacturing instead of agricultural-based or handicraft work.

Workers in America (as in many other countries) had to put in 12 hour days, 7 days a week, working hard to just barely make ends meet. Not only adults, but children as young as 5 to 6 years old, worked in mines and factories nationwide for a mere fraction of what adult workers earned.

Many workers, especially the extremely poor or immigrants who had recently come to America, were deprived of breaks or even adequate fresh air or sanitary facilities.

Due to the change from agricultural to industrial employment, Labor Unions began in the late 1700s to advocate for the rights of workers. By the late 1800s, Union members had become more active and vocal. They often organized rallies or strikes to petition employers for better working conditions and higher pay.

The First Labor Day Celebration in the United States

On Tuesday, September 5, 1882, 10,000 men (taking unpaid time off) assembled in lower Manhattan, New York to participate in the first Labor Day Parade ever. The Grand Marshall, William McCabe, had everything in readiness.

The marchers had been preceded by columns of police officers whose goal was to keep the celebration peaceful. The officers surrounded City Hall ahead of the planned festivities.

By 10:00 a.m., the time planned for the marching to begin, marchers were in place and ready to go, but no one was moving. Why not? The band had not made its appearance.

Many spectators began to talk about abandoning the celebration and going home. McCabe held strong to his plan to start the parade on time, even with fewer marchers than he had hoped for.

According to reporting from the United States Department of Labor, just in time, Matthew McGuire (Secretary of the Central Labor Union), who has been regarded by many as the Father of Labor Day) came running across the Town Hall lawn with good news!

Two hundred marchers from the Newark Jewelers Union had just crossed the Ferry, and they had a Band!

So, shortly after 10:00 a.m., the Jeweler’s Marching Band marched onto Lower Broadway playing a song called “When I First Put This Uniform On” from an opera called Patience, composed by Gilbert and Sullivan. More marchers joined the ranks and a full-fledged parade was happening.

According to a follow-up article in the New York Tribune, “The Windows and Roofs, and even the lamp posts and awning frames were occupied by persons anxious to get a good view of the first parade in New York of working men of all trades united in one organization”.

The marchers arrived at the termination point, Reservoir Park at noon. Some participants returned to their jobs to finish out the work day. Most of the marchers gathered at Wendel’s Elm Park on 92nd Street for an after-parade party.

Some of those who showed up for the party had missed the parade, but wanted to participate in the follow-up activities including speeches, a picnic and plenty of cigars and beer kegs mounted throughout the picnic area.

The afternoon activities lasted from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., and almost 25,000 union members, accompanied by their families, celebrated the contribution workers make to the building and upkeep of America.

NOTE:

In the past two and a half years, Covid-19 has taught us (in a new way) how to appreciate the workers who make our lives better, and even possible.

We have learned to put a whole new perspective on workers we once took for granted, like grocery store employees and delivery services that brought “contactless” deliveries right to our door steps.

Warehouse workers who packaged boxes of necessary supplies to be delivered by another worker in a timely fashion.

Medical personal like CNAs, Home Health Aides, and caregivers of all descriptions who have taken care of home-bound elderly and physically dependent patients.

Doctors and nurses in medical offices, clinics, and hospitals who have put their lives on the line day and night, working long hours battling death and devastation against the most overwhelming odds.

Teachers who have had to twist their endurance into pretzel knots to do their best to continue educating children at home by virtual classroom teaching.

Let’s now forget parents who have had to do all and be all for their children, keeping them online tuned in to their teachers, struggling to keep them interested, happy, and mentally and physically healthy no matter how tired they were, while managing with decreased income and often doing their own paying jobs online, too.

This Labor Day, let us remember how much work it has taken for all of us to make it to this opportunity to appreciate and celebrate the work it takes to keep our country, and every other country in the world, functioning.

HAPPY LABOR DAY TO ALL!!!