Happy Labor Day, 2023
Observed the first Monday in September, Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.
Before it was a federal holiday, Labor Day was recognized by labor activists and individual states. After municipal ordinances were passed in 1885 and 1886, a movement developed to secure state legislation. New York was the first state to introduce a bill, but Oregon was the first to pass a law recognizing Labor Day, on February 21, 1887.
By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania had followed suit.
Who first proposed the holiday for workers?
It’s not entirely clear, but two workers can make a solid claim to the Founder of Labor Day title.
Some records show that in 1882, Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor,
suggested setting aside a day for a “general holiday for the laboring classes” to honor those
“who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged.
Many believe that machinist Matthew Maguire, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday.
Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire,
proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.
the Paterson Morning Call published an opinion piece stating that
Both Maguire and McGuire attended the country’s first Labor Day parade in New York City that year.
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.
The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.
This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day.
and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
American labor has raised the nation’s standard of living and contributed to the greatest production
the world has ever known and the labor movement has brought us closer
to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy.