Happy Labor Day to one and all. And especially Thank You to all doing those things we each rely on, and, let’s face it, sometimes take for granted. Or maybe even complain about from time to time when something along these lines may not have been done the way we like. But it was done, by someone else, and we benefitted. Jobs aren’t all about the paycheck. Not by a longshot.

I had a boss not too long ago who was fond of saying “your paycheck is the thanks.” He’d toss out that little charmer when someone, upon being “asked” to do overtime, would respond by reminding him they’d done overtime for the last three days, and there’d been no acknowledgment.

I’m glad to be employed. But all in all, I have it easy. I’m not working construction, or walking a beat, delivering mail, gathering shopping carts, or fighting fires.

So thank you, Nationwide, to Police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, day laborers, mail carriers, and anyone else laboring their way.

Labor Day was enacted on June 28, 1894, signed into law by President Grover Cleveland. By the late 1800’s, manufacturing had been steadily replacing agriculture as the main way to earn a living. The average American was working 12 hour shifts, seven days a week at the time. Workers as young as 5 or 6 were working in factories and mills, and earning a fifth or sixth what the grown-up’s were earning. There were next to no breaks, no sanitary facilities, and unsafe conditions for the job itself. Labor unions started to organize strikes and rallies, protesting the lousy conditions, working to compel employers to renegotiate pay and working hours. These strikes often turned violent. In 1886, a number of Chicago civilians and Police were killed in the Haymarket Massacre, a riot that followed the bombing of a Labor demonstration. Many states enacted legislation giving a “workingman’s holiday” on the first Monday of every September. It took until 1894 for Congress to pass national legislation for President Cleveland to sign. Monday, September 3, 1894 would be the first federally celebrated Labor Day.

Today’s Playlist is a SomethingIsHappening compendium of songs about Working:

#LaborDay #Unions #Work #WoodyGuthrie #BobDylan #PeteSeeger #GroverCleveland #HaymarketMassacre #Chicago #Boss #Paycheck #Jobs