Happy Labor Day!
Happy Labor Day!
I am grateful to the Labor Movement for the Monday to Friday work week, eight hour work days (although I’m personally pushing for a 6 hr work day
) and the overall improvement of work conditions.
America is a wonderful country; I dare suggest she’s the best nation in the world to be a part of. But not that long ago even our beautiful country allowed some very unattractive standards.
These days if a rumor arises that a factory boss is not allowing the employees to leave until a big quota is met, the police (and news crews) would hustle over there without hesitation. 150 years ago holding workers hostage without food or breaks for the sake of production quotas was common place.
By the end of the 19th century workers who had moved to the cities from the farms in search of a better opportunity to achieve “The American Dream” realized that any chance at a dream was next to impossible working as de facto indentured servants. For the workers of The Industrial Revolution 12 hour shift work in airless factories filled with polluted air often stretched into 18+ hour shifts with few if any breaks. Sleep deprivation and a lack of adequate oversight by factory foremen and managers often resulted in injury or death for the workers manning the machines.
Labor Day has come a long way from its roots in the mid 19th century. We no longer have to contend with outbreaks of rioting because that month too many workers died while working for near slave wages in an unsafe factory. Gone are the stories and pictures of overworked children crippled while tending to textile machines. These days, the biggest concern I hear about in reference to Labor Day is whether the weather’s going to cooperate and how to prevent the potato salad from spoiling.
During your much deserved celebrations I hope you are also able to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold,” as Peter J. McGuire, the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor hoped.
Honor all the hard work that Americans before you have strived for this Labor Day by relaxing with your family and friends while enjoying today’s sunset.
With a cold drink in my hand,
Glory

























