This Labor Day, remember the laborers

[Omaha Steve]

Not a great article. But this portion of the article hits home.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_13277074

By John Bogert, Staff Columnist
Posted: 09/05/2009 10:00:00 PM PDT

snip: Still, I'm surprised when reference books explaining this particular holiday say it has no historical or traditional significance.

It was, states The Folklore of American Holidays, "simply a convenient date chosen because it was midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving and would fill the gap in the chronology of legal holidays."

Other sources are kinder. The Encyclopedia Americana traces the original holiday to a parade held on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City.

It apparently was the idea of Matthew Maguire and Peter J. McGuire. McGuire being co-founder of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, which would become the American Federation of Labor.

In 1894, the day became a federal holiday.

But it wasn't until I dug out a 1951 Teamsters bulletin - saved because it contained a photo of my stepfather dressed in his delivery truck khakis - that it all came into focus.

"It's a day in which we recognize labor's contribution to America," it stated, "and is therefore a day of special significance to all men and women who earn a living with strong backs, skilled hands and great heart."

FULL story at link.