#Actual definition free#

#Actual definition free#

That’s because workers who had no free time were not able to spend their wages on traveling, entertainment or dining out.Īs the U.S. Surprisingly, many politicians and business owners were actually in favor of giving workers more time off. These early organizers clearly won since the most recent data show that the average person working in manufacturing is employed for a bit over 40 hours a week and most people work only five days a week. They also focused on getting workers more days off, such as the Labor Day holiday, and reducing the workweek to just six days. These long working hours caused many union organizers to focus on winning a shorter eight-hour work day.

Sixty years later, in 1890, hours of work had dropped, although the average manufacturing worker still toiled in a factory 60 hours a week. In the 1830s, manufacturing workers were putting in 70-hour weeks on average. Labor Day came about because workers felt they were spending too many hours and days on the job. The New York Tribune’s reporter covering the event felt the entire day was like one long political barbecue, with “rather dull speeches.” Why was Labor Day invented? All striking workers were expected to march in a parade and then eat and drink at a giant picnic afterwards. The issue was solved temporarily by declaring a one-day strike in the city. However, the organizers had a large problem: No government or company recognized the first Monday in September as a day off work. The organizers of the first Labor Day were interested in creating an event that brought different types of workers together to meet each other and recognize their common interests. The goal of organizations like the Central Labor Union and more modern-day counterparts like the AFL-CIO was to bring many small unions together to achieve a critical mass and power. In the 1800s, unions covered only a small fraction of workers and were balkanized and relatively weak. The first Labor Day occurred in 1882 in New York City under the direction of that city’s Central Labor Union. The founders were looking for two things: a means of unifying union workers and a reduction in work time.

The holiday’s founders in the late 1800s envisioned something very different from what the day has become. For most people it simply marks the last weekend of summer and the start of the school year. holidays, it is a strange celebration without rituals, except for shopping and barbecuing. national holiday held the first Monday every September.