This will be my last one celebrated in the working force and I retire in October with immense gratitude and appreciation for the opportunities to have had jobs all over the country that were definetly labors of love!
All those decades when the first Monday in September rolls around.. America (you too, Canada~ ) celebrates Labor Day ..thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of Organized Labor back in the early days of forming unions, to support the workers, who were the impetus behind our first Federal Labor Day Holiday on September 3, 1894..,and you just know there was tremendous will and strife leading up to that point.
<snip>
On September 5, 1882, some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City to participate in America's first Labor Day parade. After marching from City Hall, past reviewing stands in Union Square, and then uptown to 42nd Street, the workers and their families gathered in Wendel's Elm Park for a picnic, concert, and speeches. This first Labor Day celebration was eagerly organized and executed by New York’s Central Labor Union, an umbrella group made up of representatives from many local unions. Debate continues to this day as to who originated the idea of a workers' holiday, but it definitely emerged from the ranks of organized labor at a time when they wanted to demonstrate the strength of their burgeoning movement and inspire improvements in their working conditions.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep05.html<snip>
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894. The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois on May 11 when approximately 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt.<1> The American Railway Union, the nation's first industry-wide union, led by Eugene V. Debs, subsequently became embroiled in what The New York Times described as "a struggle between the greatest and most important labor organization and the entire railroad capital" that involved some 250,000 workers in 27 states at its peak.<2>
President Grover Cleveland ordered federal troops to Chicago to end the strike, causing debate within his own cabinet about whether the President had the constitutional authority to do so. The conflict peaked on July 6, shortly after the troops' arrival in the city, and ended several days later...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike I think it's awesome to be going out with a Labor Secretary like Hilda Solis at the helm, although times were at their toughest in the job market in January 2009 since 1945
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/ .....we have Hilda Solis who is focused with fierce determination to help the workers in our country and only wants the very best for them..
<snip>
"First and foremost, we’ve reversed the dangerous trend of job loss in our country because just over a year ago, we were losing almost 700,000 jobs per month. We were on the verge of another Great Depression. We took immediate action to stop the bleeding and create jobs.
Now, instead of losing jobs, we have actually added them in the private sector every month. We have averaged about 90,000 jobs for the last seven months.
But something else too . . . and this is important: Our efforts, most notably the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, SAVED millions of American jobs in the auto manufacturing industry. Those efforts also kept health care workers in clinics and community hospitals. They kept hundreds of thousands of teachers in classrooms, and police and firefighters on the beat—where they should be. We’ve also focused on the engine of job creation, and that’s small businesses. I’ve seen time and time again the big impact that small business hiring has on a local community. Access to capital is key, so we’ve expanded credit to small businesses. Now, we are making it possible for American entrepreneurs to create and grow businesses that will put people to work.
We are taking actions that have meaning today and tomorrow. One of those actions involves rebuilding our national infrastructure, which is so critical. As a result of our quick and bold actions, millions of people are at work, building and rebuilding American roads, bridges, ports and high speed railways.
And we are also investing in a new American foundation and a whole new American industry and employer: and that’s clean energy. We look at that investment two ways: advances in biofuels, wind and solar power, will not only reduce our dependence on foreign energy, but also reenergize the American manufacturing sector.
I’ve long believed that green jobs can be great jobs, and jobs every American can take advantage of. Green jobs can be a new and exciting pathway to the middle class and these jobs will not be outsourced. <snip>
"That’s why I am pleased that this Administration is making student loans more affordable and available to all young people. At the Labor Department, we are ensuring the future success of workers at every age through job training opportunities that lead to real jobs in emerging industries like health care, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and of course, clean and green energy."
http://www.dol.gov/laborday/video-transcripts.htmSecretary of Labor Hilda Solis has a wealth of information in her video Address to the Nation and is recorded in the linked transcript.
<video of HIlda Solis for Labor Day 2010>
http://www.dol.gov/laborday/ Goodbye sweet labor..it's been an honor serving with you and now it's almost time to make room for someone else who was hired for my position.:hi:
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