Happy Labor Day

It's the unofficial end of summer, and I'm off to a slow blog start this month.  This after my busiest year of posting (so far) since 2011.  The next few weeks are likely to be a bit slower as I settle into a new role in my day job.  I'm hoping to have a decent reaction to the maybe happening Trump / Harris debate, but it will overall probably be a bit slower month for me.  By October, I'm hoping to be back in my regular swing of things.

In the meantime, Happy Labor Day. I hope everyone has a wonderful fall season, culminating in a big win in November.

While we're renaming holidays, how about Labor Day?

My Labor Day safe space.

The left is intent on erasing history and part of that is renaming holidays like Columbus Day because - evil white people. Labor Day is a celebration of the trade union/labor movement and it deserves no special dispensation.

Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend and it is considered the unofficial end of summer in the United States. The holiday is also a federal holiday.

Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor.

Except, Labor history has not been without violence. And that could be a trigger and provide a need for a safe space for those of us on the right.

According to a 1969 study, no major labor organization in American history has ever openly advocated violence as a policy, although some, in the early part of the 20th century, systematically used violence, most notably the Western Federation of Miners, and the International Association of Bridge Structural Iron Workers.[1] However, violence does occur in the context of industrial disputes. When violence has been committed by, or in the name of, the union, it has tended to be narrowly focused upon targets which are associated with the employer.[1] Violence was greater in conflicts in which there was a question of whether union recognition would be extended.[1]

Both employers and workers have each been the aggressor and victim at different times.[1] The "most virulent" violence in United States industrial disputes occurred when management tried to destroy a union or deny recognition to a union.[1]p. 282

That's the violence they're willing to admit - a 1969 study? Really? I'd cite more after doing some research but alas, I've been triggered. I am feeling overly anxious and unable to do the research. In any case, there's been violence committed by unions. We need a safe-space name that doesn't celebrate organizations with a violent history.  We need to cleanse the American psyche of that mental anguish and at the same time, I can avoid doing some research work on labor union violence. So my argument is this: let's consider renaming Labor Day to something like Fluffy Bunny Day. There, problem solved. I feel all better.

Toronto - One reason I am not proud

Labor Day (or for any fellow Canadian reading this, Labour Day) is of course a celebration of the contributions of workers to society. Or at least it used to be back when unions mattered. Sadly, I must report that the concept of Labor Day, originated in my hometown of Toronto, Canada.  Sorry for that.

What started the actual strife did not lead directly to Labor Day;

In 1869 the union sent a petition to their employers requesting a weekly reduction in hours per week to 58, placing itself in the forefront of the industrialized world in the fight for shorter hours. Their request was refused outright by the owners of the printing shops, most vehemently by George Brown of the Globe. By 1872 the union's stand had hardened from a request to a demand and a threat to strike. The employers called the demand for a shorter workweek "foolish", "absurd" and "unreasonable." As a result, on March 25, 1872 the printers went on strike.

On April 15 a demonstration was held to show solidarity among the workers of Toronto. A parade of some 2000 workers marched through the city, headed by two marching bands. By the time that the parade reached Queen's Park, the sympathetic crowd had grown to 10,000...

The result of the strike was what led to Labor Day not only in Canada but in the U.S. as well;

...For the strikers themselves, the short-term effects were very damaging. Many lost their jobs and were forced to leave Toronto. The long-term effects, however, were positive. After 1872 almost all union demands included the 54-hour week. Thus the Toronto printers were pioneers of the shorter workweek in North America. The movement did not reach places such as Chicago or New York until the turn of the century.

The fight of the Toronto printers had a second, lasting legacy. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration. In 1882 American labour leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labour festivals in Toronto. Inspired, he returned to New York and organized the first American "labour day" on September 5 of the same year. Throughout the 1880s pressure built in Canada to declare a national labour holiday and on July 23, 1894 the government of Sir John Thompson passed a law making Labour Day official. A huge Labour Day parade took place in Winnipeg that year. It stretched some 5 kilometres. The tradition of a Labour Day celebration quickly spread across Canada and the continent. It had all begun in Toronto with the brave stand of the printers' union.

So yeah, really sorry about that for all you capitalists out there, but at least there's an extra BBQ day now in the summer.