WHY IS THERE A LABOR DAY HOLIDAY?

While watching the news today, I saw a reporter ask several people what Labor Day was, and unfortunately, no one could answer his question. I thought, we have a federal holiday, yet no one knows really why. What a shame. Time for a little history.

The first Labor Day was 128 years ago, on September 5, 1882 by the Central Labor Union in New York City. But it did not become a federal holiday until 1894.

On May 11, 1894 in Pullman, IL, approximately 3000 labor union workers went on strike against the railroad in retaliation to a reduction in wages. This strike later became known as the Pullman strike because several of these workers died at the hands of the US Military and US Marshalls. In order to avoid further conflict, President Grover Cleveland rushed the necessary legislature declaring a federal Labor Day holiday through congress with a unanimous vote only six days later.

And this, in a nutshell, is why we have a Labor Day holiday.

Visit my website: arnoldwilsonphotography.com