Labor Day
I know by the time you read this article, Labor Day will be over, but I thought to myself, boy, it is great to have off on Labor Day and get some rest and get paid for the day by USPS.
But then I was thinking about the meaning of Labor Day, and what it meant to blue collar workers and how white collar workers (management) got in on the band wagon and are off and get paid too! This annoyed me to no end, this is OUR holiday not management’s! I’m sure if there was a holiday called Management Day the workers or laborers would have to work while management was home getting paid.
I did a little research into Labor Day and this is what I found out: 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, not managers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers (not managers) have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 & 1886.
From these, a movement developed 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 that year four more states – Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill into law in 1894.
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 Workers, not managers. Others suggest that Matthew Maguire a machinist also the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J. proposed the holiday in 1882 while he was serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in NYC. 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”. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Regardless of who suggested the day to honor workers it was a laborer not a manager! It was a day to honor workers not managers for all their hard work during the year and to be able to celebrate with their families and receive compensation for the day!
How management got in on this and also receives the day off with pay is puzzling to me.
I’m sure they could go to work the first Monday of September and catch up on paperwork or grievances they have, which on a normal day they don’t have time to do, this would be the perfect day for them, no employees in the building, no teleconferences, no customer complaints, etc. They could concentrate on doing their job without distraction!
Management didn’t give you this day off with pay because they like you, they gave you this day off because the union fought for you to have it!
So, I hope that you enjoyed this holiday called LABOR DAY. It is YOUR DAY, and you deserve it! Be careful and stay safe!
