Thank Goodness It's Monday #320

“WE MEAN TO UPHOLD THE DIGNITY OF LABOR”

It was another Jersey Boy – born-in-Caldwell, NJ (1837) President Grover Cleveland – who, in 1894, signed the legislation that made Labor Day a federal holiday.

Jersey Boy
Grover Cleveland
(1837-1908)

Of course, as “Thank Goodness It’s Monday” has clicked over 320 times in 6+ years,  we get to address Monday holidays repeatedly. So, not to “belabor” the point (yes, an intentional pun; I was “working” up to it), here’s a quick look back before getting to a Labor Day 2011 TGIM Takeaway or two.

It’s generally accepted that the first major Labor Day observance in the United States was September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York (a branch of the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor, a secretive labor union founded in 1869 by a clique of Philadelphia tailors. The initiation oath: “We mean to uphold the dignity of labor.”)

It became a Federal holiday in 1894.

Here’s why: Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law.

Cleveland and other politicians put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. The September date was originally chosen by the CLU of New York.

Unlike more strident May Day Socialist/Communist “Labour” observances around the world on May 1, the form for the September celebration of Labor Day in the US was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations," followed by a festival for the workers and their families.

And now, we all celebrate. Whether you are part of an organized labor group or not, Labor Day marks the traditional “end of summer” … back-to-school signal … beginning of football/NASCAR season … last day to wear white and still be thought “fashionable.” (More on that last bit later.)

TGIM TAKEAWAY: While these days we seldom relate to fairly valuing the sort of “sweat of your brow” physical effort that labor organizing in the 1880s was about, we still have strong views on the value of the individual’s contribution to the world of commerce and the disparity between wealth classes, real or imagined, in our democracy.

LABOR DAY 2011 ACTION IDEA: Assuming this is a day you have the good fortune to be able to celebrate, sometime between the checking out your local Labor Day parade or similar civic celebration and the last official beer and burger before someone winterizes that pool, appreciate what we all have gained since the first Labor Day.

Here’s a thumbnail roundup:

• Child-labor laws
• The 8-hour day/40-hour week
• Requisite time off or compensation
• Public education
• Minimum wages & other compensatory assurances
• Occupational safety & health protections
• Medical benefits
• Birth & dependent care allowances
• Unemployment safety nets
• Social Security
• Name your own favorite (Equal Pay Act, Civil Rights Act, National Labor Relations Act, ERISA pension standards, all have a connection to the labor movement.)

More than a century since Labor Day #1. This Labor Day let us remember the sacrifices endured and the challenges faced by organizing and organized workers, and acknowledge our indebtedness to this group who have played a significant role in making the American workplace what it is today for all working people, unionized or not.

LABOR DAY 2011 IDEA IN ACTION: In the spirit of Labor Day, rather than looking for scapegoats to blame for the nation’s profound economic problems, let’s resolve, starting tomorrow, to insist our politicians work – not just blather about – on helping get people back to work.

“Uphold the dignity of labor.” Real working people know the most straightforward way to get our economy moving as it should is to put more money back in the hands of working families, who will in turn spend their money locally.

Be bold! Speak up. Act on your ideals.

“A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.” Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) said that.

And finally –

About wearing white: Fashion rules are made to be broken by those who can pull it off.

Hoping to pull off wearing white year 'round as well as Uphold and Be Bold!

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S.  A few more notes about "Jersey Boy" Stephen Grover Cleveland:

Not often ranked in the pantheon of presidential “greats,” he’s still a pretty interesting study. Cleveland was the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents – 22nd and 24th. And he was the winner of the popular vote for president three times—in 1884, 1888, and 1892.

Grover was also the only Democrat (the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats and an icon for American fiscal conservatives) elected to the presidency in the era of Republican political domination that lasted from 1860 to 1912.Despite his Labor Day attempt to curry favor with the working man, Cleveland lost his 4^th bid for the Democratic Party's 1896 presidential nomination to William Jennings Bryan (who received barely 100,000 votes in the general election).

Cleveland retired to his estate in Princeton, NJ, died and is buried in the Princeton Cemetery of the Nassau Presbyterian Church. His last words were "I have tried so hard to do right."