Labor Day: Facts of the Day

New York (GaeaTimes.com) - Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September. The day is celebrated to remember the Labor Movement. The day is dedicated to the social achievements of American Workers. It pays homage to the contributions the workers have made for the well-being of their country. The day is also celebrated against the conception that a worker should work 12 hours in a day incessantly instead of 8 hours. It also raises voice against child labor that had been the crude reality for many years.

There are many controversies among the critics regarding the first proposer of the holiday for workers. The doubts are created around the names like Peter J. McGuire, Matthew Maguire and N.J. Ultimately the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to demonstrate it.

The first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The second Labor Day holiday was held by the union just a year later, on September 5, 1883. In 1884, the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday and the Central Labor Union insisted similar organizations in other cities to follow their example and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. As the idea spread with the growth of the organizations, the Labor Day was celebrated countrywide from the next year.

Through the years, with the increasing emphasis of the nation to Labor Day, by 1894, around thirty states including Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and other territories.

When the celebration of Labor Day first came into scene then it merely consisted of a street parade followed by a festival for the recreation of the workers. But gradually the pattern of celebration has undergone certain changes. Speeches of renowned men and women were introduced later as more emphasis was given upon the civic significance of the holiday. At last, it is appropriate that on Labor Day, the nation pays tribute to the American Workers-the creators of nation’s strength.