Labor Day’s Origins
Driving back from our holiday weekend camping trip my wife asked me how Labor Day started and what it signified. Stupidly I remarked that it probably had to do with the end of the summer harvest season and might be a tradition we brought with us from our history with farming.
Wrong. After unloading the minivan of all our camping gear I set down to research the history of Labor Day. After I read the answer, I felt rather stupid. Most people probably already know what Labor Day is all about, for those few like me who don’t, I’ll give you a condensed version.
Surprisingly Labor Day has only been around for little over a hundred years. During the rather tumultuous years with Grover Cleveland as President, organized workers had been beaten down and the labor movement had all but stalled. In 1893, the Pullman railroad company faced a downturn of their business with a national depression that was going on at the time. Orders for new trains were declining and the owner George Pullman started laying off workers.
Pullman owned everything in the town of Pullman, Illinois and so even the workers who remained took wage cuts while their rents remained the same. There were little workers and residents could do since Mr. Pullman owned everything and working for his company was the only way to make a living. The employees walked out demanding higher wages and lower rents. This small protest got the attention of the larger national union and railroad workers across the nation began to protest, sometimes violently and destructively. Rioting, pillaging, burning railroad cars and general mayhem ensued sweeping up even those not involved into the mob.
The strike quickly became a national issue as railroad executives were panicking and mail was delayed. The President declared the strike illegal and a federal crime. Sending some 12,000 troops to restore order and break the strike escalated the problem and some deaths resulted. The strike though, was doomed. August 3rd, 1894 signaled the end of the strike. However, because 1894 was an election year Cleveland tried to appease workers and enacted Labor Day. He ultimately lost the election.
While civic leaders hailed Labor Day as a time for the common worker to take a day off from their toils and stand shoulder to shoulder with their fellows for the betterment of all working conditions, over the significance of Labor Day has waned. For many American families it marks the last long weekend of the summer, and the beginning of the school year for most. With less than 15 percent of American workers, belonging to unions Labor Day is more or less an excuse to take a day off from work.
