Sat, Nov 21 2009
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Labor Day a show of appreciation By JOSH NEWTON“It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country,” states the DOL Web site, www.dol.gov.
The first Labor Day – Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882 – was celebrated in New York City, as part of the Central Labor Union. Two years later, the first Monday in September was designated as the holiday. Organizations like CLU were encouraged to participate in similar celebrations to honor the “workingmen’s holiday.” The holiday idea spread around the nation as labor organizations grew in number. In the years following 1883, Labor Day legislation would be passed, and in 1894, Congress passed an act to make the first Monday of September a legal holiday. The first proposal for to make Labor Day a national holiday outlined observance and celebration, including a street parade to show the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of communities, according to the DOL. Parades could be followed by a festival for workers and their families. “The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem,” says the DOL. Coverage is now focused around the media, including newspapers, radio and TV. “The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy,” the DOL Web site reads. “It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership – the American worker.” 
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