Before I retired from teaching, I always told my students that Labor Day was a holiday to honor working people. “If you have been working hard, you earned a day off. If you have not been working hard — go home and mow the lawn, do the dishes, wash the car — do something for your parents who have been working.” (Believe it or not, some high school students are not working hard.)
Now I am retired, but our daughter teaches high school ESL classes — her students are not native speakers of American English. Hence they do not understand Labor Day. “How come we don’t have school but our parents have to go to work?” Parents often work opposite shifts, so that one of them will always be home with their children.
The first Labor Day was held in Manhattan back in 1882. From The Writer’s Almanac:
“The holiday was the idea of the Central Labor Union in New York City, which organized a parade and a picnic featuring speeches by union leaders. It was intended to celebrate labor unions and to recognize the achievements of the American worker. On that first Labor Day, 20,000 workers crowded the streets in a parade up Broadway. They carried banners that said, ‘Labor creates all wealth’ and ‘Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for recreation!’ After the parade, people held picnics all over the city… When it got dark, fireworks went off over the skyline. The celebrations became more popular across the country in the next 10 years. In 1894, Congress made Labor Day a national holiday.”
Since then, organized labor eventually won the 40-hour work week, overtime pay, workmen’s compensation, child labor laws, minimum wages, pension plans, collective bargaining, social security, civil rights, protection from sexual harassment, whistleblower protections and more. They used strikes and boycotts to apply pressure, endorsed political candidates to make change.
In my lifetime, however, labor unions have been stripped of most of their authority and membership. Conservative legislatures, the Congress and courts have carved away particular protections. President Ronald Reagan brought the Air Traffic Controllers’ union to its knees, for which he was honored by Congress renaming Washington National Airport after him.
On Labor Day, I had a couple errands to run in Berryville. All federal, state, county and city government services were closed, including the post office, library and schools. Likewise banks, hardware stores, and mom and pop businesses. No cars were parked around the square.
What was open on Labor Day? The big national chains — Walmart, fast food restaurants. I joked with Walmart “associates” about their getting holiday pay. “Are you kidding? They took that away three years ago!”
We had to make an outpatient clinic appointment at Mercy Hospital. The clinic was closed for Labor Day, but the staff must take personal leave — no holiday pay. (The main hospital stayed open.) Who knows about cops and firefighters?
Most Americans enjoy Labor Day. It supposedly marks the end of summer, a vacation day to visit with family and friends, go swimming, barbecue, play games, watch tell-a-vision. Many of those who don’t get the day off are not honored for their labor — no holiday pay or overtime, or forced to take paid leave if their employer is closed.
In my youth, as a working man, I worked weekends and every imaginable holiday at one job or another —New Year’s, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day. I always got extra pay on those days, on my pay stub or through tips. As a schoolteacher, I had extra days off for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and summer vacation.
But as giant corporations and governments have striven to weaken worker’s rights, young people and poor people are left not with a 40-hour week, but holding two or three part-time jobs to get by, scuffling and hustling, with few benefits. People on salary often work 50 and 60 hours per week, with no compensation for working late or from home.
Please honor the working people you know, including yourself. They deserve it.