In honor of the holiday given to us by UNIONS

[HawkerHurricane]

Not the government, not the employers, this holiday was not 'given' but rather TAKEN.

Schools so not teach this; history books ignore it. The day we take to our barbecues one last time was created by Matt McGuire, in New York City, by the Carpenters Union in 1882. On September 5th (The first Monday of September that year), McGuire proposed that all labor unions make a show of strength by parading through the nicest neighborhoods in NYC. The New York Central Labor Committee declared September 5th, 1882 to be a workers holiday UNILATTERALLY.

Thier Call to Arms was this:
"We are enterning a contest to recover the rights of the workingmen and secure henceforth to the producer the fruits of his industry".

Defying bosses, risking thier jobs and personal safety, the unions of New York marched, with bands and bannners, from City Hall up Broadway to Union Square, where they turned north and marched through the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country. Reporter Rich Hunt described the scene:
"They passed August Belmont's house, they trudged on past the tonish Brunswick Hotel; Past the uptown Delmonico restaurant; past the elegant new Union League Club; past the mansion of Vincent Astor. Mrs. Astor - along with many of here neighbors - was in Newport for the season. Nonetheless, if the consciousness of capitalism was not penetrated, its precinct was."

The spirit of the day was so powerful and the march a success, that New York's Labor Committee resolved to observe the first Monday of every September as "Labor Day".

Bosses objected to this 'usurpation of authority', and attempted to forbid it.
Newspapers called the marchers 'ruffian anarchist'.
Politicians denounced it as 'rank ingratitude' to employers.
Still, the workers took the day off.

Twelve years later, in 1894, giving in to reality, Congress declared (and the President signed) that the first Monday in September would be a official holiday in honor of Labor.

The people had taken their own day off.

Paraphrased and plaguerized from Jim Hightower and others who I don't remember.