HAPPY Labor Day Weekend!

The United States Congress has the sole power to designate and recognize federal holidays. Labor Day was added in 1894 and is celebrated on the first Monday of September. They picked that day for nice weather since the intension was to give workers a day off for family picnics. By the end of the industrial revolution in the 1840's workers were broadly pushing for more rights and better treatment. Sweatshops were rampant and accepted; they offered unsafe working conditions, long hours, and low pay. Exploitation of child labor was surprisingly high; close to 25% of children left school by the age of 14 to enter the workforce. The common work week was sunup to sundown 6 days per week. There was no such thing as Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security Assistance. In 1911 negative public perceptions were galvanized by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire leading to the end of sweatshops and stronger protections for laborer's. The first minimum wages laws were enacted in 1896 and became federal law in 1938. Unemployment Insurance is a cornerstone of our safety net today and was enacted in 1935. Non-farm child labor was strictly regulated in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The 40hr workweek was also in the 1938 Fair Labor Act requiring time-and-a-half for over 40hrs per week. Government provided healthcare was greatly expanded with Medicare and Medicaid when L.B.J. signed two additional titles into the Social Security Act in 1965. "The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it." - Mother Teresa "Genius begins great works. Labor alone finishes them." - Joseph Joubert "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity." - Martin Luther King Jr.