There's not one of us who doesn't cherish our down time. Especially long weekends like Labor Day are an opportunity to gather and celebrate the all-too-quickly waning Summer and take up the challenge to begin anew. But it was only recently that I pondered the history of the holiday and I was reminded of how far we have come from that arduous beginning.
Labor Day, a tribute to the American worker, was created by the Labor Movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of wages adults were paid. Imagine?
Though labor unions were around since the late 1700's, nearly a century later they grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. There are lots of stories about lives lost as labor protests turned violent or were met with violent resistance as with the Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886. Twelve years later, in the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress under President Grover Cleveland passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday on June 28, 1894.
Even today, we owe a big debt of gratitude to the Labor Movement. Some of the earliest organizing efforts in the United States were young women working at mills. From that point forward, the labor movement has played a central role in the advancement of women’s rights. Finally in 1963 the Equal Pay Act banned wage discrimination based on gender but it wasn't until 2009 under Barack Obama that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restored the rights of working women to sue over pay discrimination. And we're not there yet.
In addition to furthering Women's Rights, much of the labor movement’s history is a response to dangerous work conditions. But so have they fought (and continue to do so) for things we take for granted today like living wages, health care, paid sick leave and other rights that make sure that working people can do their jobs and take care of their families. The Labor Movement has also been intertwined with the Civil Rights Movement from the beginning as well as Immigrant Rights for those coming to America seeking better jobs.
Recently though, a Supreme Court ruling made it harder for workers to band together in class action lawsuits against employers. The decision shifts power toward the corporations who seek to destroy collective bargaining in this country. But a recent Pew study found that young people have a favorable view of the Labor Movement. "Young community activists...have bolstered worker-driven protest movements from the Fight for $15 to Black Lives Matter to the Me Too movement, linking issues of living wages, labor protections, and social justice" (The Worker Institute @ Cornell). A hopeful prospect for a movement plagued by globalization, automation and rightwing rollbacks on union protections.
On this the 125th anniversary of Labor Day, let's take a moment to be grateful for all that we've inherited from the efforts of those who came before us and to value our collective ability to continue the progress towards social justice in America. As ever, remember to Mind Your Body as an important part of creating a better life ahead. Oh and, Happy Labor Day Friends!
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