
Labor Day: A Failed Holiday?
Labor Day: A Failed Holiday?
On the 28th of June, 1894, Congress passed the act declaring Labor Day a national holiday, originally intended to celebrate the American worker. This “holiday” is observed by local, state and federal governments; city and county governments, and federal departments shut down for the day. This is why the Postal Service does not deliver mail on Labor Day. A national holiday in name only, as no business is required to give an employee the day off with or without pay.
All is well for government workers, but what about private sector workers? Can they celebrate their own holiday? Workers represented by unions mostly get the day off, with those that do not due to priority jobs, such as police, telecom, etc., working voluntary, or working the holiday and getting another day off to offset. Many small businesses close down for the weekend, to give both their owners and employees a break with a three day weekend.
Ah, but what about those workers toiling away in restaurants, “big box” stores, gas stations, convenience stores, etc.? What happens when a waitress, who worked the preceding Saturday and Sunday, asks to stay home on Labor Day because school is out and she has no one to take care of her child for the day, is told by her boss she has to work, and if she does not, “don’t worry about coming back”?: nobody cares.
Labor Day has become Money Making Day, with sales up the wazoo, forcing many workers to toil away on the very holiday that is meant to celebrate the American Worker. These workers, deserve a day off too. They are not slaves. Why do companies that provide essential services, such as the phone company that has only one or two people per crew working the holiday (at double time and a half), while the non essential big box and other retailers make their employees work (with no extra pay)? Well, we can blame this on the very workers this holiday is supposed to celebrate: ” I want the day off to do whatever I want, including some shopping, so those stores better be open”. In other words, the American Worker doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the American worker. One example is the “no union” vote at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, where the workers voted against their own self interests (with no anti-union input from Volkswagen).
There are countries all over the world that require employers to give their employees all national holidays off with pay, and working people are united. These are not “exceptional” countries, but they see the need for time away from work as good for the soul, but American business has no soul and apparently neither do many American workers.
Photo by Mikes Photos from Pexels

