To ensure that you continue to receive these e-mails, please add ezine@gophercentral.com to your e-mail address book.


Monday, September 7, 2015

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.

Email the Editor



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.

***
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.