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The Labor Day Jingle

Ed Townsend - Columnist
Posted 9/4/20

So we celebrated another Labor Day yesterday but for millions they have forgotten the true meaning of Labor Day.

For most people it simply marks the last weekend of summer and for most people a …

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The Labor Day Jingle

Posted

So we celebrated another Labor Day yesterday but for millions they have forgotten the true meaning of Labor Day.

For most people it simply marks the last weekend of summer and for most people a day off work.

Many socialize with family and friends and enjoy barbecuing and relax time.

The holiday's founders in the late 1800s envisioned something very different from what so many of us did yesterday.

Originally, Labor Day, was a means of unifying union workers and getting a reduction in work time.

Labor Day simply came about because workers felt they were spending too many hours and days on the job.

Back in the 1830s manufacturing workers were putting in 70-hour weeks and some sixty years later workers still worked 60 hours a week in factory jobs.

To most folks this past weekend was a three day holiday to mark the season's end.

The labor movement fought for fair wages and to improve working conditions and there were victories that went well beyond the bread-and-butter issues of union workers.

As we relaxed on Labor Day we hope everyone took a moment to thank the hardworking men and women from the late 1800s for their efforts to create the much-improved working conditions we now enjoy.

Of all the days celebrated for one cause or another, there is not one which stands so conspicuously for social advancement as the first Monday in September.

Ed Townsend provides year around "Beyond The News"coverage in this column with over 60-years of photojournalism analysis and insight. The column can also be read on his Web blog at http://bght.blogspot.com

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