What is Labor Day celebrated for? Origin and significance explored

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September every year, and this year's celebrations fall on September 5. The federal holiday is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.

People celebrate the day with picnics, parties, and grilling. They also organize and participate in a street parade to exhibit “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”

But how did the holiday come to materialize and who founded it? The article will discuss important aspects related to Labor Day and its significance.

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Activists celebrated Labor Day to recognize their hard work toward building America

The holiday originated in the late nineteenth century when labor activists demanded a holiday to recognize contributions made by them and other workers towards America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being.

After the Civil War, working conditions for the U.S. labor class needed an upgrade. They felt the need for a federal holiday to recognize their hard work, and began celebrating a day dedicated to workers and laborers around the beginning of 1880s.

Records say that the first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by the Central Labor Union. The celebration made a return the following year on September 5, 1883.

While New York was the first state to celebrate the holiday, Oregon became the first state to pass a law and legally recognize the holiday on February 21, 1887. This was then followed by Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. They were later joined by Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. By 1894, the holiday had found its way to 30 states.

On June 28, 1894, Labor Day was officiated as a national holiday by President Grover Cleveland. The first Monday in September of each year was dedicated to the holiday.

Speaking on the significance of the holiday, Jacob Remes, an associate professor at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Studies specializing in U.S. labor history, said:

"It is a day for celebrating the labor movement, it's a day where labor unions have parades. It's a moment for reflection and celebration of what the labor movement has done for the United States. Things like the weekend, the Social Security Act, and the 40-hour week. All of these things came through the collective struggle of the labor movement and Labor Day is a time to think about that."

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Who founded Labor Day?

Some records say that the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, Peter J. McGuire, suggested a “general holiday for the laboring classes” to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”

Meanwhile, other research indicates that machinist Matthew Maguire founded the holiday. Evidence has been found stating that Matthew Maguire proposed the idea of the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. He was later appointed as the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, New Jersey.

According to records presented by the New Jersey Historical Society, the Paterson Morning Call credited Matthew Maguire for the legalization of the holiday. The newspaper wrote an opinion piece stating that “the souvenir pen should go to Alderman Matthew Maguire of this city, who is the undisputed author of Labor Day as a holiday.”

The holiday currently marks the unofficial end of summer and the start of the school year.