Labor Day Past & Present

Updated August 2023

Nowadays Labor Day offers last-minute summer vacations and family get-togethers for many. But why is it a federal holiday? Here we look into the history of Labor Day and the current challenges facing labor unions in the United States.

For the basics, turn to TimeandDate.com with its overview of the US Labor Day. If students want to know how the rest of the world celebrates labor, the site includes a link to its May Day content.

For a government overview of Labor Day page, read the Department of Labor history of the holiday. Find current labor union statistics at the Census Bureau Facts for Features article (2022). The National Archives offer a vast collection of resources in a variety of media here.

In his collection of Labor Day resources at Free Technology for Teachers Richard Byrne includes “Why Do Americans and Canadians Celebrate Labor Day?” from a TED-Ed lesson by Kenneth C. Davis.

The History Place presents photographs of children at work around 1910. The photographs are by Lewis W. Hine who left teaching to become an investigative photographer working for the National Child Labor Committee.

History.com hosts several brief videos as well as photos on Labor Day and the history of labor unions in the US. The articles include an overview of the holiday, How a Deadly Railroad Strike Led to the Labor Day Holiday and 5 Latino-Led Labor Strikes That Championed Rights for American Workers.

The Smithsonian collection includes Biographical Spotlights on three American labor leaders stretching across the 19th and 20th centuries:  Frances Perkins, Samuel Gompers, and Cesar Chavez. Elsewhere at the museum’s site, Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways are ready for listening online. Hear ‘Joe Hill,’ ‘Bread and Roses,’ and over 20 more well-known protest songs, including a song about carpal tunnel syndrome, a more recently identified labor issue.

Labor Today

Organized labor has faced growing challenges in recent decades. Reasons cited for the decline vary. Students can read recent articles to discover current thinking about labor’s decline and its effect on American life.

For a look at how the pandemic has impacted labor organizing, read Lauren Kaori Gurley’s August 2022 Washington Post article, The red-hot labor market has helped boost unions.

Taylor Johnston’s January 2022 NYT article, The U.S. Labor Movement Is Popular, Prominent and Also Shrinking, provides a quick review of recent union actions and then offers an overview of challenges faced by American workers over 40 years supported by several helpful charts. The article touches on the increased presence of women in unions in recent years.

For a 2023 update on teacher and support staff strikes, read Mark Lieberman’s Education Week article, 3 Takeaways From Recent Educator Strikes.

Two earlier articles tackle other challenges. In The Atlantic, Derek Thompson looks at the impact of technology in considering ‘Who Killed American Unions?’ Steven Greenhouse, writing for the New York Times, tracks labor’s decline and the increase in wage inequality. The two articles are moderate in tone and content. Commenters for both articles show the variety of strong opinions.

As industrial union membership has dropped, membership among government workers has remained strong. Recent years have seen an effort to decrease the strength of public service unions by several states. Older students can look into both sides of the issues – union busting versus controlling state budgets – in this NYT Learning Network post. One activity places students in roles on both sides of the debate. The article also provides resources to look into the history of unions in the US and offers suggestions for reading fiction and nonfiction to immerse students in the working conditions and attitudes experienced by workers and employers. The comments following the post also offer a range of attitudes toward unions.

In May 2014, the US Supreme Court in Harris vs. Quinn ruled that government employees in organizations represented by unions such as Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – in this case Illinois home-care workers, with lead plaintiff, Pam Harris – “cannot be forced to pay dues to a union if they’re not union members because they are not full-fledged public employees like cops, firefighters, and teachers.” Mother Jones goes on to report on the ruling from its usual pro-labor stance. Similar conclusions are reached by the less kid-friendly SCOTUSblog response to the ruling.

In June 2018 the US Supreme Court ruled non-union individuals working in unionized public sector agencies did not have to pay union fees. The case, Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was brought by a person working in child support services for an Illinois agency. The ruling reversed a 1977 case which had said non-union employees would pay union bargaining costs but not political costs. For details visit Adam Liptak’s New York Times article.

CBS This Morning
Following months of wildcat strikes in 2018 (Corey Doctorow, BoingBoing) by teachers in several states, NPR‘s Anya Kamenetz reported on possible effects of the Janus decision on teachers’ unions. The 2022 school year saw a strike by Columbus, Ohio, teachers which concluded with an agreement with the local school system. AXIOS reported the teachers would get an annual pay increase of 4% and “climate controlled” schools by 2025.

For a long list of strikes, from 1170 BCE to 2023 in the US and elsewhere, visit Wikipedia.

US labor unions and organizations provide websites linking to their own education resources and to other resources. The NEA shares a timeline starting in 1768 and running until fall 2022. Share My Lesson, affiliated with the AFT, offers Labor Day lessons, some of which are for middle graders.

2023 has seen widespread unions striking. As reported by Lauren Kaori Gurley in the Washington Post, workers have formed picket lines across the United States with actors and screenwriters, UPS workers, “[b]aristas, national park bus drivers, hotel housekeepers, lawyers, book sellers, locomotive plant workers, sour cream producers and brewery workers” striking. Auto workers are in talks with US automakers in August with a strike possible in fall.

2nd photo: Seattle Municipal Archives, Creative Commons