Ah, Labor Day: the unofficial end of summer and official day of mattress sales.
On Monday, people across the Southland will flock to Chicagoland beaches, parks and backyard barbecues, but will any of them be thinking about labor?
Unions think so, scholars don’t, but one thing is certain: union influence has steadily declined in the U.S. With that may have come the holiday’s metamorphosis from worker celebration to an end-of-summer blowout.
Union workers in New York City celebrated the first labor day on a Tuesday in September 1882, throwing a parade in Manhattan. The idea caught on and a few years later, workers in other industrial cities like Chicago were celebrating, too. Wages were low and conditions in many factories were deplorable. Union organizers were even targeted for their beliefs.
In Chicago, eight labor leaders were convicted for a bombing during a protest rally in Haymarket Square, despite a lack of evidence against them. Four were hanged in 1887, one committed suicide on the eve of his execution and three had their death sentences commuted to life in prison in response to mounting questions of their innocence.
But unions kept fighting. By the 1950s, a third of non-agricultural workers were part of a union, according to Melyvn Dubofsky, a noted labor historian and professor emeritus at State University of New York at Binghamton.
“Unions still had the ability to muster large Labor Day parades and Labor Day remained important,” he said. “Unions obtained for their members, paid holidays. Aside from the Labor Day parade, the weekend became a holiday parade of sorts for union members.”
But by 1973, membership began to sag. Last year, only 11.1 percent of workers were unionized, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 1983, the first year comparable union membership data was available, membership was at 20.1 percent.
“For most people, the original purpose has been lost,” Dubofsky said. “It’s basically the final, end-of-summer long weekend … Even in New York, where they had the first Labor Day parade, there is no celebration on Labor Day.”
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In the south suburbs, celebrations this holiday weekend related to the actual meaning of the holiday are few and far between. A Homewood official said the village is more focused on the Fourth of July and the upcoming fall fest. Joe Lamargo, village manager of Orland Park, said three concerts are scheduled on the holiday at Centennial Park West, but no labor-themed celebrations.
If you ask a union member, Labor Day still honors the American worker. For Don Finn, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 134, Labor Day is not only his favorite holiday, the celebration starts on Aug. 31, the Wednesday before Labor Day when the Chicago Federation of Labor — an umbrella organization that represents more than 300 Chicago unions — stages an annual luncheon. His union and others were scheduled to join the 10th Ward for Labor Day Fest Saturday, and participate in many picnics hosted by brothers and sisters in the vast “union family.”
“It’s still for the working men and women of this country who have built the country, continue to build the country and will build the country in the future,” he said. ” I think the average American enjoys and understands the day.”
Even if people don’t realize it, union workers are probably part of festivities, said Erikka Knuti, spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers.
“People who are out there grilling your burger were probably packed by a UFCW member,” she said. “If you’re having a beer, it was probably made by a UFCW member … Labor day is not about a day off of work, it’s about honoring what workers mean to this country. However, when people celebrate it, we hope people recognize what makes the things around you hum: It’s workers.”
On Labor Day, UFCW local chapters parade, host picnics and place editorials in their local newspapers to remind people why they have the day off.
“We’re as relevant as we’ve ever been,” she said. “I think it’s a matter of honoring the dream that in this country, hard work can build a better life and the strength of one individual worker is strengthened by standing with other workers.”
@MatthewMcCall_