Labor Day Fast Facts

                    

                    ``Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living,’’
                                -Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones, 1902)

        Since 1894, when Congress passed and President Grover Cleveland signed into law, a bill designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day, Americans have celebrated the social and economic achievements of the U.S. labor force.
        So as we prepare for another federal holiday, what follows is some historic background about the developments within the labor force since the frightfully low wages, punishing long hours, and unsafe working conditions of the 19th century
 
U.S. Labor History

Until the mid-1800's two-thirds of college graduates were concentrated in three fields: theology, law, and medicine.

1840: The federal government begins regulating maximum work hours by setting a day's work at 10 hours.

1882: Matthew Maguire, who later became secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., first proposed Labor Day while working at the Central Labor Union in New York.

September 5, 1882: First Labor Day Parade took place in New York when 10,000 workers marched from City Hall to Union Square.

May 1, 1886: The first organized strike in the United States is coordinated by Samuel Gompers, head of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, who successfully gathered 250,000 workers nationwide to fight for a shorter work week.
In 1886, more than 1500 strikes and lockouts took place in the United States, most of them calling for an 8 hour day.

February 21, 1887: Oregon became the first state to grant legal status to Labor Day as a holiday.

June 28, 1894: Congress passed legislation making Labor Day an official federal holiday on the first Monday of September.

1913: Congress creates the U.S. Department of Labor. (USDOL).

1914: The Clayton Act is passed which called for a number of provisions protecting labor unions.

1916: Railroad workers were among one of the first to achieve eight-hour work days.

1919: The International Labor Organization is organized as an extension of the League of Nations.

1926: The Railway Labor Act (RLA) is passed, which prohibits discriminatory action against union members and calls for employers to bargain collectively.

1933: Congress enacts the National Industrial Recovery Act, providing for the first time, collective bargaining, a minimum wage standard, and a maximum work week. This act was eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1935 and replaced by the Wagner Act, which allowed for the formation of unions.

1935: Congress enacts a 40 hour, 5 day work week for postal workers.

1938: There were 3.7 million professional workers in the United States when Congress enacted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which standardized the 40 hour work week and mandated special overtime compensation.

1946: Congress overrides President Truman's veto and passes the Taft-Hartley Act, which among other actions, bans secondary boycotts, closed shops, and makes unions liable for strike related damages.

1955: The AFL under President George Meaney and the CIO headed by Walter Reuther merged, paving the way for higher wages for American union workers.

September 4, 1956:  The New York Times reported employment stood at 66, 800,000; and steel mills were operating at ``96 or 97 percent of capacity each week’’.

1970: Congress passes the Occupational Health and Safety Act, enforcing higher standards for the safety in the workplace.

1981: President Reagan fires striking air traffic controllers, sparking a flood of protesters, estimated at 400,000, to stream into the Mall in Washington D.C. in the first Solidarity Day Protest.

1993: The North American Free Trade Agreement is passed leading to job losses in the manufacturing sector of the country, particularly in New York, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. In 2003, the Economic Policy Institute estimated NAFTA had resulted in the loss of nearly 900,000 jobs nationwide over a nine year period.

1998: For the first time in U.S. labor history, families with both spouses holding jobs became a majority, representing 14.3 million married couples (out 28.3 million) or 51%, up from 8.3 million or 33.3 % in 1976.

Minimum Wage Laws

• Minium wage in the United States is currently $7.25

• States with no minimum wage laws: 5 (Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama)

• States or U.S. territories with minimum wages below the federal level: 8 Minnesota: $6.15, Wyoming: $5.15, Kansas, $2.65 will rise to $7.25 on 1-1-2010; Arkansas: $6.25; Georgia $5.15;  U.S. Territory-Virgin Islands-($6.15); Guam ($6.55); and Puerto Rico ($4.10)

• States with minimum wages higher than the federal level: Washington- $8.55; Oregon-$8.40; California-$7.28; Colorado: $7.28; Nevada $7.55; Michigan: $7.40; Illinois: $8:00, rises to $8.25 on 7-1-2010; Ohio: $7.30; Vermont: $8.06; Connecticut: $8:00, rises to $8.25 on 7-1-2010; Massachusetts: $8.00;  Rhode Island-$7.40; *District of Columbia-$8.25
*Note: a.) In the District of Columbia, the minimum wage is automatically set $1 above the Federal minimum wage rate if the District of Columbia rate is lower.

Labor Outlook

• As of July, 2009, there are 141, 055 million employed in the nation's labor force.

• 7.7 million American workers hold down more than one job; and 288,000, the so called ``moonlighters’’, work two full-time jobs, according to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2007.

• In 2008, Union membership in the United States increased by 428,000 to 16.1 million

• Currently, 10.4 million American workers are self-employed;  5.7 million work from home

Labor Day Traditions

• Marks the unofficial end of summer.
• The beginning of the presidential campaign season is officially launched.
• The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon, a tradition dating back to 1966, is televised.
• Major League Baseball begins its last full month of the season, a time when the pennant race is in full swing

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, AFL-CIO, U.S. Department of State

   - Bill Lucey
    [email protected]

 

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