History of Labor Day (US)

The death rattle of Summer in America, Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States and it usually takes place on the first Monday in September and celebrates workers. It is a day for parades, picnics and barbecues as well as relaxing with many people like government workers taking the day off.

The United States and its neighbour Canada was modernised during the Industrial Revolution in the 19^th century as people compromised their rights in the workplace while enjoying steady employment. They had to endure long working hours and cuts to their pay which was imposed on them. In the mid-late 1800s labour groups started protecting themselves by unionising. Canada kick-started it following the legalisation of worker’s unions in Canada in 1872. Ten years later, the labour march that allowed for labour unions to exist in Canada became an annual tradition. The officials for these labour unions invited Peter K Maguire, an American labour union leader to a labour celebration in Toronto which left a major impression on Maguire and it inspired him to come up with a similar parade in New York for 5^th September. He chose this date as it was a gap in the US calendar between 4^th July (Independence Day) and Thanksgiving in late November. Coincidentally enough, Patterson, New Jersey resident Matthew Maguire also suggested a similar labourers’ celebration for 5^th September as well! So when that fateful Tuesday came on 5^th September 1882, thousands of labourers in New York City marched to Union Square from City Hall and gathered in Reservoir Park for an afternoon pumped with concerts, picnics and speeches that rallied for an 8-hour work day. They were simply doing what Canadian workers had been doing to get their rights.

Two years later, the first Monday in September became the day of the Central Labor Union and started encouraging all cites in the US to follow what they were doing in New York and march for a worker’s holiday. The choice for many that day was to either work that day like nothing that happened or march without pay. Oddly enough, the US State of Oregon became the first day to legalise Labor Day in 1887 and other states like New York state followed soon after. It was only after a political disaster involving railway workers in Pullman, Illinois who protested over wage cuts which became violent that US President Grover Cleveland decided it was the right time for Labor Day to become the US National calendar and now American have a day off in the name of worker’s rights like the rest of the world but one that is separate to 1^st May due to the socialist connections to the Haymarket Affair, something America isn’t too keen about. Similarly but minus an event similar to the Haymarket Affair, Canada also has their Labour Day on the first Monday of September.