Celebrate Labor Day in the United States!

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is an American holiday that honors workers and the labor movement. It is also the end of popular summer.

international workers day

Most countries celebrate International Workers' Day on May 1.

We don't because the US government didn't want our celebration to be associated with the Haymarket Riot in Chicago on May 4, 1886. And since the Russian Revolution of 1917, the May Day date has been minimized to avoid any association with it.

So we celebrate Labor Day in September.

Organized work is important

Modern history is a struggle between owners and workers. Things go awry when one or the other gets too strong.

When owners are too strong, they appropriate too much of the wealth created by workers. Most of the wealth created during the last economic cycle (2008-2020) has benefited the investor class. This is why financial journalists today speak of a “K-shaped” recovery, with the investor class benefiting and the working class continuing to lose ground.

This is a bad situation because civilization becomes unstable and collapses when the gap between rich and poor becomes too large.

When workers are too strong, we end up with stupid work rules like those of the 1970s. That doesn't work in a globalized world. There will always be someone out there who will do the job cheaply and never say, "that's not my job".

We have to find a balance. Economies stagnate when wealth is unequally distributed.

Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motors, understood this well. Realizing that his own workers couldn't afford his cars, he raised wages and guess what happened? He sold more cars and made more money.

A fairer distribution of wealth benefits everyone. This is why we must protect and support the labor movement now.

Labor Day has started in New York

First Labor Day Parade in New York on September 5, 1882

The first Labor Day celebration was a parade organized by the Central Labor Union in Union Square on September 5, 1882.