Labor Day is a day to light up the grill with family and friends, attend local parades, and even light off some fireworks. While these are great ways to kick back and celebrate, we should remember why Labor Day is important.
It is appropriate that we pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership – the American worker. That’s you, and that’s us.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to labor — it is the labor we love. Thank you for working hard to make an impact for your family and our community.
Now, a little history to remember why we celebrate:
In the late 1800s, at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, the average American worked 12-hour days seven days a week to obtain a basic living. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on a Tuesday in 1882, in New York City, per the plans of the Central Labor Union. The New York Tribune reported that: “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 workingmen of all trades united in one organization.” Workers began organizing rallies and strikes to protest poor working conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay.
It took 12 years for congress to legalize the holiday, by which point, workers’ rights were squarely in the public’s view. June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday – Labor Day.