Happy Labor Day

 

Happy Labor Day. Labor Day, it was the creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

No matter who proposed the holiday, there is no doubt that we need to really celebrate the holiday and acknowledge the true meaning because the American worker is under attack and heading toward extinction.

The real unemployment rate in this country is 22%. The government keeps finding ways of not including people so they can lower the rate and the Federal Reserve can claim their tricks are working. The President has been waiting over a month for the right time politically to announce his new jobs bill. He held back announcing it until after all the crooks got in their vacation, then pushed it back a day so he didn’t interfere with the Republican debate, and then changed it again to not interfere with football. The American worker is a political football, and you know what folks, we have fumbled the ball. So enjoy your Labor Day…..while you still can. The American worker is rapidly going the way of the dinosaur.

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm