Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September each year. For most Americans, it is a day off from work and is considered the “official” end of summer or “Hot Dog Season”.
It is a day to pay tribute to working men and women and has been a national holiday since 1894.
“Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country,” said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. “All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man’s prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, or glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day…is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race or nation.”
History
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. In 1884, the first Monday of September was selected as the holiday, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations and in 1885, the day was celebrated in many industrial centers in the country.
In the U.S., governmental recognition came first through municipal ordinances passed during 1885-86. The first state bill was introduced into the NY legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September in each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. President Grover Cleveland signed it into law then.
Fun Facts
- The fashion trend is to never wear white after the holiday
- In the U.S., it marks the beginning of the NFL and college football season
- It has become 2nd only to Black Friday in retail sales. Ironically, this means 24% of all workers in the U.S. (retail workers) may work harder and longer on that day
HAPPY LABOR DAY FROM HARRIS FEDERAL LAW FIRM!
