Just a Thought: Labor Day Weekend
By Steve Walker
This is Labor Day Weekend and tomorrow is Labor Day.
I love Labor Day since every five, six or eleven years my birthday
lands on that national holiday. I celebrated my 65th birthday four
years ago on Labor Day at VFW Post 76 downtown for the beginning of the
official political season kickoff in 2011 for the 2012 May Primary. That birthday
however was especially memorable since I qualified for Social Security and
Medicare.
While that Labor Day sticks out in my mind as unforgettable, most
other holiday birthdays not so much. However, my one other memorable Labor Day
birthday was my 59th birthday
as I stood on the sidelines of a local high school football field watching the
New Orleans Saints play a scrimmage practice as owner Tom Benson stood on the
sidelines. I was privileged to shake his hand. That was during the 2005
Hurricane Katrina disaster.
As far as future Labor Day birthdays for me, if I can survive and
make it 5 more times I will celebrate my 98th birthday on that special Labor
Day. Wishful thinking on my part?
Since this year September 5th lands on Friday I will
hit the ripe old age of 68. Ironically the first Labor Day holiday was
celebrated on Tuesday, September 5th 1882 in New York City in
accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The CLU held its second
Labor Day holiday just one year later on September 5th, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in
September was selected as the official holiday, as originally proposed, and the
CLU urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New
York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea
spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was
celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
In 1882, Matthew Maguire a
machinist first proposed the holiday while serving as Secretary of the CLU of
New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter McGuire in May 1882,
after witnessing the annual Labour Festival in Toronto Canada. Oregon was the
first state to make it a holiday on February 21, 1887. By the time it became a
federal holiday in 1894, signed into law by President Grover Cleveland, thirty
states officially celebrated Labor Day.
Over time, speeches by prominent men and women were introduced as part of
Labor Day, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance
of the holiday to include modern celebrations to include Labor Day sales and
specials.
As a former President of the
Harlandale Federation of Teachers which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, I
served on the Central Labor Council of Labor Unions in Bexar County. As a union
member I have been an active part of Labor Day celebrations over the years that
happen coincidentally to coincide with an occasional birthday for me. Since I
have been affiliated with the Bexar County AFL-CIO we have also had three
female Hispanic presidents to include Alicia Garza, Rachel Hernandez and most
recently Gloria Parra. In the 70s the local elected the first Hispanic female
president, Joan Suarez.
Whether or not you are a union
member, remember it is a national holiday to honor all hardworking Americans
who provide for their families. Happy Labor Day.
As always, I
write “Just a Thought.”
Steve Walker is a Vietnam Veteran, former Journalist and Justice
of the Peace.
