History Of Labor Day

"The history of Labor Day in America is a story of transformation, from a farming economy into a society of wage earners."

Today, the turbulent history of the labor movement has faded a little from memory, and Labor Day is celebrated more as the last long weekend to enjoy the outdoor pursuits of summer.

There is often much to choose from as cities, communities, civic clubs, labor groups, and local merchants all sponsor events to attract families, young people, old people, and everyone in between:

• parades
• sporting events
• open-air concerts
• arts & craft shows
• fireworks displays
• barbecues and picnics
• children's carnivals and petting zoos

All the while we participate in the day's events, we listen with half an ear to the speeches by community leaders, local officials, event organizers, celebrities, and politicians spurring us to take action toward their respective causes.

Labor Day has become a day of rest and recreation, a symbolic end to summer.

Labor Day Facts & Timeline

The history of Labor Day is the story of the profound effects on men, women, and children of the Industrial Revolution which began in Britain and spread through Europe, then to America.

First Labor Groups: possibly the guilds of medieval Europe might be considered the earliest labor groups. The guilds sought to provide an educational framework for artisans to enter a trade with no skill (an apprentice) and become highly skilled with experience (master).

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 1700's with three events important to the history of Labor Day:

1. Simple but innovative new machines began to replace manual labor in the textile mills, especially the invention of the cotton spinning machine by Sam Crompton in 1769.
2. Invention of the steam engine by James Watt in 1775.
3. Improved iron-making techniques allowed all-metal machine parts to be built. This had an immediate and broad effect on manufacturing processes in all industries.

The factory model evolved in the textile mills of Manchester, England, where workers were trained to perform a single, repetitive task in an assembly line designed for efficient and cost-saving production.

High production at lowest cost is the goal of the factory model. Basic to this model is the necessity to extract the most work for the least pay from the wage-earners in the system.

British trade unions of the 1800's

Long, grueling hours under miserable working conditions were often the norm for workers in mills, factories, foundries and mines.

Workers efforts in Britain to lobby for better working conditions and pay were met with harsh political action: laws called Combination Laws were passed making trade unions illegal. These laws were in effect for 25 years, until repealed in 1824.

An outbreak of strikes against employers immediately followed, which was met with the 1825 Combination Act. This new law applied narrow rights and strict rules by which workers could press employers for better conditions and pay.

Finally 41 years later, trade unions were awarded full legal status under the 1871 trade Union Act. However, picketing remained illegal until 1874.

Unions were eventually formed by workers in mining, agriculture, textiles, brick masonry, engineering, railroad, transport, and general unskilled labor.

The history of Labor Day in the United States

As in Britain, the history of Labor Day in America began with the revolutionary changes in lifestyle caused by industrialization of manual and animal labor. But without laws against employee organizations, Americans formed trade unions freely from the late 1700's.

American trade unions formed within specific occupations: tailors, shoemakers, typographers, carpenters, miners, and many others. First city-specific, there later evolved national and even international (United States and Canadian) trade unions of skilled craftsmen. These unions relied on strikes and boycotts to demand better conditions and/or wages.

In addition to the rise of trade-specific unions there arose "workers rights" organizations focused more on general labor reform and equal rights. The two most prominent:

• the National Labor Union
• the Knights of Labor

In 1886 the "workingman's unions" and the trade unions merged into the American Federation of Labor (afl). The afl shed the goal of general labor reform and adopted the occupation-specific mode of organizing new members. This meant that union members, by definition, possessed a specific craft or skilled trade. This had the additional consequence of excluding most people of color, women, and Asians.

As a result, the influence of the afl was somewhat self-limiting in the growing industrialization of the early 1900's. The afl recognized and pursued one avenue to increase its influence: political action and lobbying for legislation favorable to its growth and prosperity. It entered the political arena, supporting friends and attacking enemies.

In 1935 the United Mine Workers broke away from the afl and formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (cio). The cio closely associated with new unions forming within the auto, steel, and rubber industries, who merged and reformed into the Congress of Industrial Organizations (cio) in 1938.

By this time the unions had developed an affinity and partnership with the Democrat political party, as they shared several common goals, chief among which was that of adding the growing immigrant population of poor, largely unskilled workers to their membership rolls.

Important milestone in the history of Labor Day: In 1955 the afl and cio merged to become the afl-cio, and for the next twenty years represented a powerful political and social force in America. Collective bargaining by unions reaped substantial gains in pay and benefits for its members.

Since the 1970's, with the wane of manufacturing jobs, the rise of a service economy, and right-to-work laws in 22 states, union membership has greatly fallen off in the private sector.

Union membership remains strong among city, state, and federal public employees.

The founding of Labor Day History is credited to the work of two people: carpenter Peter McGuire, a founder of the American Federation of Labor, and machinist Matthew Maguire, secretary of the Central Labor Union, New York, who proposed the holiday in 1882.

Labor Day became a U.S. federal holiday in 1894.

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