Last week I asked a friend how Labor Day came about, and he replied that it probably had something to do with unions. Bingo! Right on the money!
Here's an explanation from the Department of Labor: History of Labor Day. To wit:
Founder of Labor Day
More than a century after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day 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 Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
How fitting that just the other day the FBI and IRS raided the home of UAW president Gary Jones.
Perhaps a more appropriate holiday might be "Right to Work" day.
------
10:51 AM 9/2/2019
Comments