Hi Member's,
Do you have any special plans for this Labor Day WeekEnd ?

I'm going to honor the day by working >
Please share what you are doing for fun ?

What is Labor Day ? (History below +)

Observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events.

More to Explore

PEOPLE AND GROUPS

• Theodore Roosevelt
• Grover Cleveland
• Henry Ford

THEMES

• The 1930s
• Child Labor
• Strikes

EVENTS

• Industrial Revolution
• The Great Depression

RELATED TOPICS

• History of the Holidays
• American History
• Memorial Day
• U.S. Presidents

Recommended Articles

• Labor Movement

• 
  
  The origins of the labor movement lay in the formative years of the American nation, when a free wage-labor market emerged in the artisan trades late in the colonial period.
  
• Child Labor
  
  The minimal role of child labor in the United States today is one of the more remarkable changes in the social and economic life of the nation over the last two centuries.
  
• Strikes
  
  Strikes are organized events in which workers stop production and refuse to return to their jobs until their demands are met.
  
• Industrial Revolution
  
  Starting in Britain in the 1700s, the Industrial Revolution was a change from an agrarian to an industrialized society.
  

Did You Know?

Until Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894, laborers who chose to participate in parades had to forfeit a day's wages.



Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.

As manufacturing increasingly supplanted agriculture as the wellspring of American employment, labor unions, which had first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Haymarket Riot of 1886, in which severalChicago policemen and workers were killed. Others gave rise to longstanding traditions: 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 idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it.

Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed moment in American labor history brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view. On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. On June 26, the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers. In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

More than a century later, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified. Many credit Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, while others have suggested that Matthew Maguire, a secretary of the Central Labor Union, first proposed the 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.

 

Space , I'll be in the labor day parade driving a big tow truck for USPS..
Here's a pic from last year..

 

WoW `Jerry, you look younger in that picture from last year > this year. the picture hasn't aged a bit >
I remember when you posted that pic last year...WoW we's this year & life sure has been supercharged the way it's been flying by...

Wish you good weather & a super parade > EnJoy your WeekEnd with family & `friends...Can `Logan ride with you ? If he can't ?, I bet he'd love to be in the parade with his best Grandfather...Thanks for posting/sharing...

 

that's pretty cool jerry. i gotta know though, what use does the USPS have for a big wrecker like that? i thought most of their large truck drivers were independents. also that's probibly the cleanist USPS rig i've ever seen, lol.

as for me, it sounds like my grandparents are gonna be up. probibly also gonna see my buddies and might try to get out to the west end fair.

 

Ryan , we use the wrecker to tow USPS Mack trucks that break down. We tow the Hulster/ spotters trucks from the airport to downtown for service..
We have alot of Mack trucks that move the mail around the city & county of St.Louis..

 

Hi `Ryan,
Thanks for your post & I hope that you get to spend some time with your grandparents & your friends....I'm hoping that I will be able to do the same...
If work doesn't consume all my time over the weekend I want to go to the below with my grandfather & Bum `Mike...We know a lot of the surfer's in the contest...(the waves aren't kick'in up to high ), but I love being on the beach with my grandpa & friends

 

 

Heres my plan for the Labor day weekend....

Mentor Ohio on Saturday,
Sunday I'm a couch Potato for the Atlanta race!

That's the Goal anyway..

But, Its suppose to be Hot Muggy and Sticky!

Maybe I will just stand under the sprinkler on Monday.

 

Thanks Mod `David & member's for your posts & contributions to the MCF...
David, take pictures of you under the sprinkler
`Devin, I hope the above answers your question

Wish `all a safe/fun Holiday Weekend > EnJoy

 

My band is playing on the Sunday night this weekend, so Labour day will probably be spent doing a lot of catch up sleep