Labor Day is observed on the first Monday in September to pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of everyday working families. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
A national economic downturn had begun in 1893 (The Panic of 1893), and the Pullman Company was suffering, along with many other businesses. George Pullman slashed the wages of his workers by 25% or more – but didn’t commensurately reduce their rents or the price of food. Discontented workers joined the American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs, which supported their strike by launching a boycott of all Pullman cars on all railroads. ARU members across the nation refused to switch Pullman cars onto trains. When these switchmen were disciplined, the entire ARU struck the railroads on May 11, 1894. Within four days, 125,000 workers on twenty-nine railroads had quit work rather than handle Pullman cars.
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| Workers leave the Pullman Palace Car Works, 1893. |
Despite its size, the strike failed. Violence erupted from strikers and police some of whom were given orders to shoot and kill any demonstrator found destroying property. President Grover Cleveland deployed some 2,000 federal Army troops to Chicago and other areas (the mail wasn’t moving, so the strike had become a national issue). By the end of July, without broader support from other unions, the strike had fizzled and been defeated. During the strike, 13 workers were killed and 57 were wounded.
Following the death of the workers in June of 1894, President Grover Cleveland made reconciliation with the labor movement a top political priority and 23 more states had adopted the holiday. On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.
Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.
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