For most of us, Labor Day marks the end of the last long weekend of summer. It is a day for parades, hot dogs, relaxing, and, perhaps, reflection on the blessings of being productive members of the middle class.
But it was not always that way. The road to organized labor’s own holiday was rough and rocky. Proud, hardscrabble men like UBC founder Peter McGuire and fellow union pioneer Samuel Gompers fought both literally and politically to turn concepts like the eight-hour workday, equal pay for women, and paid overtime into reality.
McGuire, who would become known as the “Father of Labor Day,” first brought up the idea of setting aside a day to honor “the strength and dignity of labor” at a meeting in New York City in May of 1882. But the concrete for creating a national holiday midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving was not poured until McGuire was invited to speak at a labor festival in Toronto in July of that year.
A parade at that Canadian festival sparked the inspiration, and McGuire joined with the Knights of Labor later that year to celebrate the first Labor Day with a parade of more than 10,000 workers down the streets of New York on Sept. 5, 1882.
The idea spread quickly, and two years later virtually every major city held a Labor Day parade of worker solidarity. As always, the lobbying took a little longer. But it came to fruition on June 28, 1894, when, by an act of Congress, Labor Day was officially made a federal holiday on the first Monday of September.
Union workers in the 21st century tend to take things such as paid vacations, overtime pay, and weekends off for granted. But they were paid for in sweat and blood by men like McGuire more than 125 years ago. It’s a thought to keep in mind when grilling those Labor Day hot dogs.