Why Labor Day Matters: Honoring American Workers

Some say Labor Day is the end of summer. The last chance to enjoy the warm weather before winter's cold grip is on us.

While a last fling in the sun is great, the holiday of Labor Day is about much more.

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Why Do We Celebrate Labor Day In America?

It is a celebration of the American worker. The people who make things, build things, serve food, stock shelves, drive trucks, clean up, fix stuff, and everything in between. It is also about remembering the struggle to protect and raise up everyone in the United States.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker. -US Department of Labor

Labor Day was first celebrated in New York City in the early 1880s. To mark the day people would organize a day of demonstrations and picnics.

On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history. The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. - History.com

The first state to pass Labor Day legislation was Oregon in 1887. In 1894, after a failed attempt to break up a railroad strike, Congress passed a law making the first Monday in September the federal Labor Day holiday.

READ MORE: Have Labor Day Off? Thank James Kyle From South Dakota

Remember the Americans who worked to create the weekend. Remember those who worked to ensure a path to upward mobility, worked to end child labor, to create the minimum wage and workplace safety, and all the ways that ensure that everyone has the opportunity to reap the benefits of America.

While we unwrap the meat and put the burgers on the grill, think about the people who raised that cow, grew the feed, drove it to market, processed it at the plant, stacked the meat in the store, and checked you out at that store.

Have a happy Labor Day, we worked (and continue to work) hard for it.