Why no one labors on Labor Day aka history of Labor Day

Articles contents care of :
THE EXAMINER

Pullman strikers outside Arcade Building, 1894

Do you know the origin of the celebration we hold on the first Monday in the month of September? Many Americans pair Labor Day and the end of summer together, however that’s not how it started.
The first labor festival occurred in Toronto. American labor leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed it, and returned to New York City and organized a labor celebration on September 5, 1882.
However, the impetus behind sanctioning Labor Day as a Federal holiday was the Pullman Strike. Approximately 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in 1894. Their wages had been cut five times, 30-70 percent, within six months. George Pullman literally owned the land, homes and stores in the town named for him. The workers’ earnings went back to Pullman through rent and goods. Though their wages were cut, living costs remained the same.
The American Railway Union (ARU) joined the wildcatters, enmeshing 250,000 workers and 27 states. President Grover Cleveland feared the nation would come to a halt. He stepped in and people died. Cleveland ordered U.S. Marshals and about 12,000 United States Army troops to end the strike, killing 13 and wounding 57 men.
In an act of reconciliation, Cleveland rushed a law through Congress making Labor Day a national holiday, six days after the end of the strike.
In 1896, Cleveland lost his bid at the Democratic National Convention for reelection.
In 1897, George M. Pullman, who began as a manufacturer of coffins as a young man, died. He was buried in Graceland Cemetery in a lead-lined coffin.
In 1898, through the efforts of an investigation regarding the causes of the Pullman Strike, the Pullman Company divested itself of the town and Chicago annexed the 4,000 acres of land on the west shore of Lake Calumet -- formerly known as Pullman, Illinois.

Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself. Have a safe, happy weekend.

Wow considering I grew up in Mississauga it is nice to hear that the first Labor Day
in Canada occurred in Toronto in the year September 5,1882. It is sad how the national holiday
began in the States though.

Have a happy and prosperous Labor day today.

Yours truly,
Brian "mediamerlin" Woodbridge