What is Labor Day?
Labor Day is a celebration of the advances made by Labor Unions in the United States. For those who don’t know or understand precisely what Labor Unions have achieved in the US, I suggest some of the following links.

The Triangle Factor Fire

Near closing time on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building in the Triangle Waist Company. Within minutes, the quiet spring afternoon erupted into madness, a terrifying moment in time, disrupting forever the lives of young workers. By the time the fire was over, 146 of the 500 employees had died. The survivors were left to live and relive those agonizing moments. The victims and their families, the people passing by who witnessed the desperate leaps from ninth floor windows, and the City of New York would never be the same.

Child Labor in the United States, a photographic exhibit.

West Virginia Mine Wars

Miners worked in company mines with company tools and equipment, which they were required to lease. The rent for company housing and cost of items from the company store were deducted from their pay. The stores themselves charged over-inflated prices, since there was no alternative for purchasing goods. To ensure that miners spent their wages at the store, coal companies developed their own monetary system. Miners were paid by scrip, in the form of tokens, currency, or credit, which could be used only at the company store. Therefore, even when wages were increased, coal companies simply increased prices at the company store to balance what they lost in pay.

But before you think that poor treatment of workers in the US is a thing of the past…

I highly recommend Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser spoke at WVU in 2003.)

I also recommend you look at farm labor in the US.

So enjoy your picnic, but take a few minutes to remember why we have the day off, and give a thought to all the people who do not get the day off.