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Monday, September 4, 2017
Happy Labor Day, everyone. Most Americans will spend their day off cooking out, or having a backyard party or maybe taking a short, end-of-summer vacation, but Labor Day used to be celebrated by parades an rallies, since the origin of Labor Day is rooted in the struggle for unionized labor.
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Today's Random Fact:
Peter McGuire is considered the Father of the Labor Day holiday. An Irish-American cabinet maker and pioneer unionist, McGuire proposed a day dedicated to all who labor at a meeting of the Central Labor Union on May 18, 1882 where he stated, "Let us have, a festive day during which a parade through the streets of the city would permit public tribute to American Industry." He is described as a red-headed, fiery, eloquent leader of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.
In 1887 Oregon became the first state of the United States to make Labor Day an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty U.S. states officially celebrated Labor Day.
Bonus Fact:
There are an estimated 15.8 million labor union members nationwide. About 13 percent of wage and salary workers belong to unions, with New York having among the highest rates of any state--25 percent. North Carolina has one of the lowest rates, 3 percent.