# American Labor Day



## debodun (Aug 18, 2022)

Will occur on Monday, September 5th this year (always the first Monday in September). Just another excuse to goof off.  It was not one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. It meant school was starting soon.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 18, 2022)




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## Alligatorob (Aug 18, 2022)

debodun said:


> It was not one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. It meant school was starting soon.


Yep, the last gasp of summer.  Our school always started the Tuesday after.


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## Pepper (Aug 18, 2022)

Agree.  Bye Summer.........


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## Don M. (Aug 18, 2022)

I'm always happy to see Labor Day arrive....as that usually signals the end of the oppressive Summer heat.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 18, 2022)




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## Pepper (Aug 18, 2022)

The kid is right @Aunt Bea!  That would have helped soften the blow.


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## Packerjohn (Aug 18, 2022)

What sort of holiday are these holidays anyway?  Who are they for?  In my humble experience, it's just another day for shopping.  Oh ya, the government employees, the school teachers and kids and maybe other folks here and there get a day off but for most of the other "peasants" it's just another day for shopping.  The value of these holidays is long dead unless you are the elite and maybe have a fancy cottage and boat to where you can escape.

These holidays had some meaning but today where folks are "demanding" 24 hours of shopping/day, I see that the value of these "festivals" is a bit of a joke.


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## SeniorBen (Aug 18, 2022)

Aunt Bea said:


> View attachment 235040


Interesting painting. There are two families running towards the unused table — one from the top and one from the left — that look like they're about to get into a fight over who gets to have their picnic on it. Hopefully, they're not armed. There could be trouble. 

Then there is a cannon pointing towards the water with two stacks of cannon balls at the ready. This park could be the site of Revolutionary War battles... perhaps on the Hudson River.

From the looks of the cars, this looks like the late '40s or early '50s


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## Alligatorob (Aug 18, 2022)

Packerjohn said:


> What sort of holiday are these holidays anyway? Who are they for?


In the US and Canada (Labour Day) its supposed to be in recognition of the labor movement and laborers contributions.  Our holidays occur on the first Monday in September, more countries observe a similar holiday in May, May Day.  In the US it is a federal holiday so federal offices are closed and federal government employees get the day off, most state and local government and many private employees also get the holiday.

I am not sure how important it is to honor the labor movement this way, but I do think time off and holidays are important.  I think workers are more productive and happier with some holidays.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 18, 2022)

It used to bother me that so many people had jobs that required them to work on a day that celebrated the success of organized labor.

Now I realize that the chance for many people to work an extra shift is just as important.


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## PamfromTx (Aug 18, 2022)




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## PamfromTx (Aug 18, 2022)




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## PamfromTx (Aug 18, 2022)




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## PamfromTx (Aug 18, 2022)




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## MrPants (Aug 18, 2022)




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## debodun (Aug 19, 2022)

Aunt Bea said:


> View attachment 235040


Dig that blockhouse, too. There's one in my town not too far away (from my former house you could have seen it if it weren't for the bend in the road), but here it's a little different shape.


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## Paco Dennis (Aug 19, 2022)

Rah Rah It's Labor Day weekend! I think it is over rated with all those who are out of work. It is just an excuse for more consumerism of our favorite things. What about all those with no jobs, or working 2 or 3 part time low paying jobs to feed their families? They are everywhere. Maybe if you have the means invite some poor people to a BBQ or whatever.?


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## Nathan (Aug 19, 2022)

Don M. said:


> I'm always happy to see Labor Day arrive....as that usually signals the end of the oppressive Summer heat.


The way things are going with the weather here, I'm not expecting any relief from the hot and muggy monsoon weather 'til....maybe mid October.


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## Paco Dennis (Aug 19, 2022)

We are actually counting on a hot September so we can fill our pool up for our last of the season swims!


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## JustBonee (Aug 19, 2022)




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## ArnoldC (Aug 19, 2022)

I put the flag out for Labor Day.  It's one of my favorite holidays.  Also dust off my aging union buttons for a one-day display.  Once upon a time Labor Day was a celebration of and for organized labor.  A force pivotal in making the middle class the success it once was.  To wit-a bumper sticker down the street from me:  "_From the people that brought you the weekend-Labor Unions_"

My personal ten-year+ involvement in the 70s and 80s was as a factory working member of Allied Industrial Workers (AIW).  Their labor contract was with Fruehauf Corporation, Omaha, Nebraska.  At the time, Nebraska was a right-to-work state.  Meaning one did not have to join the labor union in order to work at the plant.  I didn't hesitate to join.  AIW continued maintaining my membership and seniority even during Army Reserve deployments.  Collect a small stipend as a result of that membership.  Helps in supplementing Social Security.

As union workers, we got a lot.  And we gave up a lot.  Back in the days when give-and-take bargaining got things done.  Hence, the well-earned and deserved national recognition.  Hope all enjoy the weekend and the day.  _Arnold_


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## debodun (Aug 19, 2022)

President Grover Cleveland made Labor Day a federal holiday as he was serving as the 24th President of the United States when he signed the celebration of Labor Day into law on 28 June, 1894.


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## RadishRose (Aug 19, 2022)

My aunt, a widow who was a garment worker, loved this jingle:


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## MarciKS (Aug 24, 2022)

i will be laboring on labor day this year.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 25, 2022)




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## JustBonee (Aug 25, 2022)




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## debodun (Aug 26, 2022)




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## Been There (Aug 27, 2022)

The military never gets a day off.


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## Been There (Aug 27, 2022)

debodun said:


> Will occur on Monday, September 5th this year (always the first Monday in September). Just another excuse to goof off.  It was not one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. It meant school was starting soon.
> 
> View attachment 235038


In today’s life, schools have messed up how life use to be. Now schools start in the middle of August so they can get more days off throughout the school year. My friends grandchildren seldom have a 5 day school week.

Another friend of mine has a daughter who is a senior in high school this year. Her whole first semester, she doesn’t have to go to the classroom 1 day or even for 1 period. Instead, she has one class online 3 days a week and goes to college 2 days a week. Don’t ask me what classes or anything about her schedule because I am as confused as anyone else is from the way it used to be. She was trying to explain it to me about how she doubled up on subjects the last few years so she would have an easy senior year. She wants to join the Navy as soon as she graduates.


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## SeniorBen (Aug 27, 2022)

Labor Day grew out of the labor union movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I'm going to watch a documentary about Eugene V. Debs over the weekend to learn a bit more. There are two available online.


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## JaniceM (Aug 27, 2022)

Been There said:


> In today’s life, schools have messed up how life use to be. Now schools start in the middle of August so they can get more days off throughout the school year. My friends grandchildren seldom have a 5 day school week.


Maybe it's about location.  When I was in school, school started the first Wednesday after Labor Day, and unless it's changed this year it's the same for my grandkids.


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## Been There (Aug 27, 2022)

JaniceM said:


> Maybe it's about location.  When I was in school, school started the first Wednesday after Labor Day, and unless it's changed this year it's the same for my grandkids.


That's about the latest that I have heard. Many schools are starting prior to Labor Day. Our local school here started this past Wednesday. I want to get out of this area. It is so overcrowded. As much as I don't like the idea of going back to Ohio, I did like that little farming community that my grandparents raised me in. Not a lot of traffic or people.


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## Pepper (Aug 27, 2022)

JaniceM said:


> Maybe it's about location.  When I was in school, school started the first Wednesday after Labor Day, and unless it's changed this year it's the same for my grandkids.


Yes, I also remember Wednesday after Labor Day.  Didn't you go to elementary school in NYC or am I confusing you with someone else?


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## Meanderer (Aug 27, 2022)




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## Bella (Aug 28, 2022)

Bella


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## Bella (Aug 28, 2022)

Bella


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## Warrigal (Aug 28, 2022)

SeniorBen said:


> Labor Day grew out of the labor union movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I'm going to watch a documentary about Eugene V. Debs over the weekend to learn a bit more. There are two available online.


Those who know how hard workers had to struggle to achieve the working conditions we now enjoy also know why their efforts are celebrated, not just in US but in UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many non English speaking countries as well. They did this against tremendous opposition and backlash from vested interests. Intimidation included ostracisation and verbal abuse at the lower end of the scale, loss of employment, bashings and even murder at the other end.

Even today unions are vilified by some and regarded as nothing more than a bunch of organised thugs. This makes me angry every time I hear a politician refer to "union bosses" in the same way that they talk about "mob bosses". The head of the ACTU* in Australia is a mild mannered woman who is extremely reasonable and who serves the members. She is their spokesperson, not the boss. 

We are about to have a 2 day national skills summit to examine the crisis we are currently suffering from  a shortage of skilled workers for businesses across a number of industries as well as hospitals and schools. The ACTU leader and a spokeswoman for the Business Council are both in agreement about changes to the system that are necessary and this is a good sign as far as I am concerned that the skills summit will be productive for business, workers and the economy.

*ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions.


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## debodun (Sep 1, 2022)




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## Alligatorob (Sep 1, 2022)

To celebrate Labor Day this year I'll be flying to Louisiana for a couple of weeks of fishing and relaxing along the Gulf of Mexico!


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## MickaC (Sep 3, 2022)




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## debodun (Sep 3, 2022)




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## RadishRose (Sep 3, 2022)




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## JaniceM (Sep 3, 2022)

Pepper said:


> Yes, I also remember Wednesday after Labor Day.  Didn't you go to elementary school in NYC or am I confusing you with someone else?


Yup, I'm from NY..  my grandkids are in NY also (not in NYC).


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## JustBonee (Sep 3, 2022)

Alligatorob said:


> To celebrate Labor Day this year I'll be flying to Louisiana for a couple of weeks of fishing and relaxing along the Gulf of Mexico!



Take rain gear ....


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## Medusa (Sep 3, 2022)

Alligatorob said:


> To celebrate Labor Day this year I'll be flying to Louisiana for a couple of weeks of fishing and relaxing along the Gulf of Mexico!


Have a great time, Alligator.


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## Medusa (Sep 3, 2022)

SeniorBen said:


> Interesting painting. There are two families running towards the unused table — one from the top and one from the left — that look like they're about to get into a fight over who gets to have their picnic on it. Hopefully, they're not armed. There could be trouble.
> 
> Then there is a cannon pointing towards the water with two stacks of cannon balls at the ready. This park could be the site of Revolutionary War battles... perhaps on the Hudson River.
> 
> From the looks of the cars, this looks like the late '40s or early '50s


This post prompted me to go back and really look at that picture.  I wonder if it's inspired by an actual park or created from the artist's imagination.   There's also what looks like some sort of watch tower. Interesting.


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## Medusa (Sep 3, 2022)

Nathan said:


> The way things are going with the weather here, I'm not expecting any relief from the hot and muggy monsoon weather 'til....maybe mid October.


Bummer.  I'm really hoping autumn arrives soon.


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## Nathan (Sep 3, 2022)

Medusa said:


> Bummer.  I'm really hoping autumn arrives soon.


18 more days!


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## Medusa (Sep 3, 2022)

Nathan said:


> 18 more days!  View attachment 237531


Woot Baby!!


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## Meanderer (Sep 4, 2022)




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## Pink Biz (Sep 5, 2022)




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## Meanderer (Sep 5, 2022)

Barbara Ehrenreich, writer of the 2001 bestseller Nickel and Dimed died on 1 September, her son announced. She was 81. R.I.P. Barbara.





2018


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## debodun (Sep 5, 2022)

No cookouts or picnics around my locale today. Rain, rain, rain.


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## MarkinPhx (Sep 5, 2022)

debodun said:


> No cookouts or picnics around my local today. Rain, rain, rain.
> 
> View attachment 237841


Feel free to send some of your rain my way !


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## Paco Dennis (Sep 5, 2022)

Labor Day 2022​
_"Labor Day 2022 will occur on Monday, September 5. Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day weekend also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, street parades and athletic events.
_
_Why Do We Celebrate Labor Day?_​_Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters.

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 their adult counterparts’ wages.

People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.

As manufacturing increasingly supplanted agriculture as the wellspring of American employment, labor unions, which had first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay.

Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Haymarket Riot of 1886, in which several Chicago policemen and workers were killed. Others gave rise to longstanding traditions: On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history.

The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed moment in American labor history brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view. On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives.

On June 26, the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the Pullman strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers.

Who Created Labor Day?
In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed it into law. More than a century later, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified.

Many credit Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, while others have suggested that Matthew Maguire, a secretary of the Central Labor Union, first proposed the holiday.


Labor Day Celebrations
Labor Day is still celebrated in cities and towns across the United States with parades, picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays and other public gatherings. For many Americans, particularly children and young adults, it represents the end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.
_
_Holidays That Fall on Mondays_​_The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 changed several holidays to ensure they would always be observed on Mondays so that federal employees could have more three-day weekends. The Act, signed into law on June 28, 1968, moved Washington’s Birthday Memorial Day, and Columbus Day to fixed Mondays each year.

Labor Day is in good company; other holidays that always fall on Mondays include:
_

_Martin Luther King, Jr. Day _
_George Washington’s Birthday (or “President’s Day”) _
_Memorial Day _
_Columbus Day "_
https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1


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## JaniceM (Sep 5, 2022)

Paco Dennis said:


> ​
> _Holidays That Fall on Mondays_​_The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 changed several holidays to ensure they would always be observed on Mondays so that federal employees could have more three-day weekends. The Act, signed into law on June 28, 1968, moved Washington’s Birthday Memorial Day, and Columbus Day to fixed Mondays each year.
> 
> Labor Day is in good company; other holidays that always fall on Mondays include:_
> ...


I'd thought of this recently, but even though I have an excellent memory I can't remember this (holding holidays on Mondays) that far back.


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## Gary O' (Sep 5, 2022)

I read somewhere a part of Labor Day is in honor of improving working conditions

So

I'm laboring under the kitchen sink today
To improve my lady's working conditions

I'll be expecting some sorta medal 
Maybe settle for something involving this


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## PamfromTx (Sep 5, 2022)




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## MarkinPhx (Sep 5, 2022)

debodun said:


> Will occur on Monday, September 5th this year (always the first Monday in September). Just another excuse to goof off.  It was not one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. It meant school was starting soon.
> 
> View attachment 235038


Yup...I still have a resentment towards Labor Day because of that very reason


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## Aunt Bea (Sep 5, 2022)

Labor Day has always been the last day of the great New York State Fair

My maternal grandmother used to go each day of the fair’s approx. two week run.

I remeber her taking me to the free Labor Day stock car races, demolition derbies, and auto thrill shows. My grandmother was always up for any form of free entertainment and felt a sort of obligation to take advantage of it.


I also remember her lectures about not buying any food on the last day of the fair for a variety of horrifying reasons. I think the biggest reason was a lack of funds.


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## SeniorBen (Sep 5, 2022)

Gary O' said:


> I read somewhere a part of Labor Day is in honor of improving working conditions
> 
> So
> 
> ...


This one's better:




100% employee owned baking company!


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## Gary O' (Sep 5, 2022)

SeniorBen said:


> This one's better:


No argument
However
If it's not on the shelf, the one in stock.....is best


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