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Remembering Why We Celebrate
by Kathleen Jones
When with our friends and family, away from work and enjoying a holiday, it is sometimes easy to forget what and why we are supposed to be celebrating. Case is point – Labor Day. “So,” you’re saying to yourself, “just why are we celebrating?” Well, it’s not because some folks way back when decided, “Hmmm…since we have Memorial Day to open the summer season, maybe we should have another holiday to close it out!” No, Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement. The first Labor Day holiday was observed and celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. It was a day “dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers” – i.e., people like you and me! Two years later, in 1884, the first Monday in September was set aside as Labor Day, and that date has stuck ever since. Municipal ordinances provided the first governmental recognition of the day. On February 21, 1887, Oregon became the first state to recognize Labor Day as a legal holiday, and by 1894, it was an official holiday in thirty-one states. Throughout history workers have, more often than not, been at the mercy of their employers when it came to terms of employment, working conditions and compensation. Even in our own country, great as it may be, workers have had to fight and make sacrifices in order to secure even the most basic of workers’ rights. Over the decades, workers have fought and, yes, even died in labor disputes that have sometimes taken on the appearance of undeclared wars. On March 25, 1911, one hundred and forty-six workers perished in a fire that consumed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, all because an employer’s greed would not allow basic safety precautions to be put in place. In 1934, National Guardsmen armed with rifles and machine guns confronted striking workers at Toledo’s Auto-Lite factory. Two protesters were killed and over a hundred were injured in clashes between these two groups. Labor and social activists such as A. Philip Randolph and Cesar Chavez have struggled hard to advance economic and social conditions among minority workers. And over the years men and women of the CWA have walked the picket lines to secure fair and equitable contracts, paving the way for many of the benefits you and I enjoy today. So this Labor Day, whether you are taking part in Toledo’s Labor Day Parade, enjoying yourself at the CWA picnic, relaxing at home in front of the tube, or working for that premium pay, take a moment to remember the men and women of the labor movement and the contributions all workers – past and present – have made to the prosperity and well-being of our country. -- Kathleen Jones
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