Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio Pay brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren vogle bam here. For a lot of people
Speaker 1: in the United States and Canada, labor Day means two things,
Speaker 1: a day off and the end of summer. But why
Speaker 1: is it called labor day? Labor Day is a day
Speaker 1: set aside to pay tribute to working people, and it
Speaker 1: dates back to the late eighteen hundreds. Throughout the eighteen hundreds,
Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution produced a rapid expansion in factories and
Speaker 1: in manufacturing capabilities. As workers moved away from agricultural work
Speaker 1: and into factories and minds, many faced terrible working conditions,
Speaker 1: long hours, low pay, and health risks. Many children worked
Speaker 1: in factories, and women and children generally received lower pay
Speaker 1: than men. The government did little to limit these injustices,
Speaker 1: and in the United States, along with much of the
Speaker 1: industrialized world, labor movements developed that lobbied for better rights
Speaker 1: and safer conditions. At the time, people worked an average
Speaker 1: of sixty hours a week, but unions were agitating for
Speaker 1: shorter work weeks and more paid days off. At the
Speaker 1: same time, the idea of a labor day spread across
Speaker 1: the United States. The first Labor Day Parade occurred on
Speaker 1: September two in New York City. The original form of
Speaker 1: the holiday was a street parade to show the public
Speaker 1: the quote strength and a spirit the core of the
Speaker 1: trade and labor organizations, followed by a large picnic to
Speaker 1: provide some fun for workers in their families. Meanwhile, a
Speaker 1: common method of protest used by workers in the eighteen
Speaker 1: hundreds was the strike. A strike is when a group
Speaker 1: of workers stops working in protest to labor conditions or
Speaker 1: as a bargaining tool during negotiations between labor and management.
Speaker 1: While strikes today are generally peaceful events, back then they
Speaker 1: were quite the opposite. A list of the notable strikes
Speaker 1: of the eighteen hundreds shows numerous events that were broken
Speaker 1: by hired militias, police, or US government troops. Frequently resolved
Speaker 1: sing in the deaths of workers. Employers often hired private
Speaker 1: companies like the infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency to intimidate striking
Speaker 1: workers or to escort strike breakers workers replacing striking employees
Speaker 1: across picket lines. One of the most infamous and tragic
Speaker 1: events of this period was the Haymarket riot. On May one,
Speaker 1: six and nationwide strike began. The called for an eight
Speaker 1: hour work day. Three days later, a rally was held
Speaker 1: in Chicago's Haymarket protesting the violent police response to a
Speaker 1: strike by workers at the McCormick Reaper works. The previous day,
Speaker 1: a police had shot into the unarmed crowd, killing four
Speaker 1: and wounding many. Because of poor weather, only a few
Speaker 1: hundred activists attended the following rally on May four, When
Speaker 1: police moved in to disperse the crowd, someone threw a
Speaker 1: bomb into the assembly. Chaos followed a police fired shots.
Speaker 1: Some workers may have as well. No official tally of
Speaker 1: civilian casual he exists, though it's believed that several died
Speaker 1: and many were wounded. Seven police officers died and sixty
Speaker 1: were injured, many by bullets from their fellow officers. The
Speaker 1: bomb thrower was never identified, but many activists were arrested,
Speaker 1: including some who hadn't even been at the riot. Eight
Speaker 1: were charged and convicted for inflammatory speeches and publications that
Speaker 1: allegedly caused the deadly violence, and despite numerous pleas from
Speaker 1: labor leaders and other activists, four of the convicted were
Speaker 1: hanged in November of another killed himself in prison. In
Speaker 1: June of eight, the new Illinois governor granted a full
Speaker 1: pardon to the remaining three convicted men. The event inspired
Speaker 1: labor leaders to push from May one to be an
Speaker 1: international celebration of workers. Labor Day, known as May Day
Speaker 1: in some countries, is celebrated throughout the world on May one.
Speaker 1: In the United States, Labor Day is celebrated on the
Speaker 1: first Monday in September, dedicated to the social and economic
Speaker 1: achievements of American workers. The workers unions chose the first
Speaker 1: Monday in September because it's halfway between Independence date and Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: It's been celebrated as a national holiday in the United
Speaker 1: States and Canada since the first state to designate a
Speaker 1: Labor Day holiday by law was Oregon in seven Some
Speaker 1: thirty states had adopted the holiday by the time Congress
Speaker 1: declared it a federal holiday. President Grover Cleveland signed the
Speaker 1: bill into law, which is interesting because Cleveland himself was
Speaker 1: not a labor union supporter. Historians say he was trying
Speaker 1: to repair some political damage that he had suffered earlier
Speaker 1: that year when he sent federal troops to put down
Speaker 1: a strike by the American Railway Union at the Pullman
Speaker 1: Company in Chicago, an action that had resulted in the
Speaker 1: deaths of thirty workers. The Labor Day now carries less
Speaker 1: significance as a celebration of working people and more as
Speaker 1: the end of summer. Membership in labor unions in the
Speaker 1: United States reached an all time high in the nineteen fifties,
Speaker 1: when about of the workforce belonged to unions. As of
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, union membership was at about ten point three
Speaker 1: percent of the working population, according to the Bureau of
Speaker 1: Labor Statistics. We'll have to cover the history of labor
Speaker 1: unions themselves in a future episode or episodes, but as
Speaker 1: for this holiday, I'm turning to one Samuel Gompers to
Speaker 1: wrap it up. In eighteen sixty six, he founded the
Speaker 1: American Federation of Labor, one of the first major unions
Speaker 1: in the United States and one that still exists today
Speaker 1: in the form of the a F l c I O.
Speaker 1: Gompers said, Labor Day differs in every essential way from
Speaker 1: the other holidays of the year in any country. All
Speaker 1: other holidays are in a more or less degree connected
Speaker 1: with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of
Speaker 1: strife and discord for greed, and power of glories achieved
Speaker 1: by one nation over another Labor Day is devoted to
Speaker 1: no man living or dead to know sept Or Nation.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Jacob Silverman was special thanks
Speaker 1: to Scott Silverman. It was produced by Tyler Klang. For
Speaker 1: more in this and lots of other hard working topics,
Speaker 1: visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production
Speaker 1: of iHeart Radio. Or more podcasts from heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows