Honoring Labor's heroes on Labor Day.
So I wonder how many of us Americans paid tribute yesterday to the fallen heroes of the American Labor Movement -- workers and union organizers who died or were crippled defending worker's rights to fair wages, safe work conditions, reasonable work hours, collective bargaining agreements and fair benefits, such as health care and compensation for workers injured on the job?
Wasn't their ultimate sacrifice on our domestic industrial battlefields to protect labor rights as important as the sacrifice of our veterans of foreign wars?
Weren't the benefits & protections that these labor heroes secured for Americans as important and direct -- in the long term -- than the protection of American freedom and democracy in the jungles of Vietnam?
Or do we Americans think that free-market capitalism, Walmart wages and Trump-style "you're fired" approach to labor relations will give the best terms and work conditions for employees -- perhaps through the trickle-down effect (from the wealthy business owners) that has enriched poor farmers and workers throughout the ages? smile emoticon
BTW, why don't we have a regular Labor Day parade in Washington, DC that's organized by major labor unions?
Regardless, here's a little more information on Labor Day for those of us who forgot it:
Labor Day: Where does it come from?
"But the labor movement already had another day associated with it: May 1. May Day was the International Labor Day, and had a significant US following. But the day was associated with a more radical tone. A post on the Massachusetts AFL-CIO website describes the controversy: “Especially after the 1886 Haymarket riot, where several police officers and union members were killed in Chicago, May Day had become a day to protest the arrests of anarchists, socialists, and unionists, as well as an opportunity to push for better working conditions. Samuel Gompers and the AFL saw that the presence of more extreme elements of the Labor Movement would be detrimental to perception of the festival.”
The spring of 1894 featured a bitter labor dispute between workers and the railroad industry – notably the Pullman workers who faced wage cuts in Chicago.
Amid the tension, President Grover Cleveland made a conciliatory gesture toward unions. He was a Democrat but no ally of organized labor. “After violence related to the Pullman railroad strike, President Cleveland and lawmakers in Washington wanted a federal holiday to celebrate labor – and not a holiday celebrated on May 1,” according to a Labor Day history compiled by the National Constitution Center, a museum in Philadelphia."
Labor Day by Wikipedia:
"Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September.
It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.
Labor Day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, who organized the first parade in New York City.
After the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago on May 4, 1886, U.S. President Grover Cleveland feared that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the affair.
Therefore, in 1887, the United States holiday was established in September to support the Labor Day that the Knights favored.[1]
In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the holiday while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York.[2] Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882,[3] after witnessing the annual labour festival held in Toronto, Canada.[4]
Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday on February 21, 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.[3]
Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday;
President Grover Cleveland signed it into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[5]
The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the previous several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent socialist and anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers' Day.[6][7]
All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.
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