Labor Day Weekend Is Here

Labor Day weekend has arrived.  It’s kind of a quiet holiday.  There are no gifts, no confetti, no car races, and no turkey.  Although, any of those things would be welcome to attend. 

It’s the unofficial end of summer, because kids will be going back to school and the warm, carefree days are done.  In reality, the kids here in the Valley of the Sun went back to school a month ago.  Our warm summer days have in no way come to an end.  That might happen as we’re celebrating Halloween.

Over the years Labor Day has had different meanings for me.  As a kid in Iowa, it meant going to school for a couple of days and then getting a three-day weekend before hitting the books hard for a long stretch until, at that time, probably Thanksgiving.  We didn’t get a bunch of days off for fall break.  In Iowa we had to save up for snow days.  We usually had a barbeque with friends or relatives that weekend. 

When I was in high school, I remember having homework to keep me occupied during my three days off.  For me that meant leaving it until Monday afternoon or evening and then working like a crazy person to get it done.  Again, we’d have a barbeque and it became a tradition for dad to recruit me to help remove the 5,000 lb. air conditioner from the window in the living room. (Yes, I’m exaggerating on the poundage of that beast, but it was darn heavy.)

As an adult Labor Day simply meant a day off from working/laboring.  I always feared it might be the last weekend with nice, warm weather.  Granted there were still weekends to go to a park and walk through the colorful autumn leaves while soaking up some sun.  However, the pools closed for the season, the lakes got cold, and it was just a matter of time until the sun was setting on the way home from work.  Before we knew it there would be an October ice storm or November snow to deal with.  The grilling tradition continued with friends, brats or steaks and beer. 

Through all these years I never actually researched Labor Day.  Where did it come from?  What was the intent?  Was it simply to give us a day off to mark the passing of the year—the way I looked at it?  Ironically, it took being retired and sometimes not even know what day of the week it is, to decide I needed to know how Labor Day came to be.

Labor Day is a U.S. federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September.  Yep, knew that.  It was created to honor the American labor movement and the contributions of workers to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the country.  I suspected that might be its purpose, but in my mind the words weren’t quite as fancy. 

In the late 1800s, during the Industrial Revolution, workers often faced 12–16-hour days, six or seven days a week.  Hey!  I had a job like that about 15 years ago.  There were unsafe conditions… yes, when I was up a sixteen-foot ladder changing can lights.  I should have done this research then.

Labor unions began forming, demanding shorter workdays, safer conditions, and fair pay.  Strikes became common and sometimes turned violent when met with resistance.

The first Labor Day Parade was held on September 5, 1882.  Thousands of workers in New York City took an unpaid day off to march for their rights.  I’d call that more of a protest than a parade, but apparently it worked.  In 1894 Congress unanimously passed legislation making Labor Day a federal holiday.  President Grover Cleveland signed it into law. 

Labor Day is a tribute to the millions of workers whose labor built the country.  Many protections we take for granted—like the 40-hour work week, weekends off, child labor laws, and workplace safety rules—came from the labor movement.

While it has become about family time, barbecues, and marking the end of summer, its origin is still about respecting workers and the value of fair labor. Even now not all workers get the day off,  so thank you for keeping our country running and thank you to all who fought for the opportunities we have today.