America's Labor Movement and the Genesis of Labor Day

Ever wondered how Labor Day became an integral part of American tradition, and who are the real founders behind the holiday? Together with DJ Harrington and his wife, Sheila Harrington, we bring you a fascinating historic journey into the origins of Labor Day, tracing its roots back to the labor movement in the 19th century. From the exploration of potential founders  to the first Labor Day parade in New York City on September 5, 1882, we unpack the story of this national holiday, with a trip back in time to the industrial revolution and the grueling labor conditions that sparked change.

As we venture further into the depths of the labor movement, we cast a spotlight on the significant Pullman car strike of the late 19th century. We explore the role of Eugene Debs in sparking these protests and the consequences of the strike, involving Robert Todd Lincoln, president of the Pullman Palace Car Company. We delve into the profound impact of these events on the labor movement, drawing inspiration from quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. and Dan Miller on the importance of purpose, meaning, and accomplishment in the workplace. So, tune in to this episode, promising a compelling journey through time, exploring the roots and legacy of Labor Day.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome one and all. You're there. Where are you? This is the URG on the Go Podcast, the true voice of the automotive recycling industry. We do our best each and every episode to bring you new, informative ways to improve your business, anything that would help improve your bottom line. Chuck Camp, the producer, is in the studio. I'm DJ Harrington, your host, better known as the cardiologist, the doctor and we give you a checkup from the net up each and every week. This is a special edition of the URG.

Speaker 1: 0:44

Podcast and it's called the Labor Day Podcast. I've asked my wife, sheila Harrington, to help with this. What I'm going to do. The very first thing is, can I ask you first of all, thanks for joining the URG Podcast. Can I ask you today to discuss Labor Day and how it came to be, and why do we here in the United States even celebrate Labor Day?

Speaker 3: 1:12

Well, labor Day has become the unofficial end of summer and kids are back in school. I know when I was growing up, that signal to all the kids back then, because we were all three months when Labor Day happened. You were going to school the next week. It always falls on the first Monday of every September and it's really considered a national holiday in the US for workers. Children are out of school. Obviously, the state and federal offices are also closed and Labor Day has huge origins in the labor movement. Really, the operative word in the Labor Day holiday is the word labor. There's some uncertainty as to really who deserves credit for the idea of Labor Day, but both men were union heads. Some people cite Peter J McGuire, a union leader who was founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, or it could have been possibly Matthew McGurie, a machinist and secretary of the Central Labor Union.

Speaker 1: 2:23

Boy. Now that's a mouthful. I'm interested in knowing more details, but at some point America started celebrating Labor Day. But which of these two fathers of labor actually got involved in this.

Speaker 3: 2:38

Well, I'll be glad to handle talk about that for you. As I mentioned before, these two men were involved in the process. So most sources, including the Department of Labor for the United States they really create credit Peter McGurray with the origination of Labor Day. But recent evidence kind of suggests that the pure father of Labor Day may in fact be Matthew McGuire, and they have similar spellings of their last name and pronunciations are a little bit different. But no matter which one, it was. One of them planned and held a parade on Labor Day, the first real Labor Day, on September 5, 1882. There were about 10,000 workers who participated in that parade and they held it in New York City. There is no particular significance to the data September 5, for today we always celebrate it, no matter what the day is on the first day of September. But the reason they chose September for the parade is really because it fell halfway between July, the 4th holiday and Thanksgiving holiday.

Speaker 1: 3:55

All right. So now, Sheila, how do we got that part to do with the New York parade and so forth? Would you discuss with our listeners some of the events that brought this about?

Speaker 3: 4:06

Well, certainly, as I mentioned, Labor Day is deeply rooted in about 130 years of the labor movement and it's effort to improve working conditions. In America, when the Industrial Revolution really started, what customers consumers were wanting was mass production, and they wanted it quicker, but they also wanted a bigger selection, and so they basically had been doing everything by hand, and that really, in turn, created demand for labor and trained unions to kind of protect the workers.

Speaker 3: 4:44

So around the 1850s, with the push for shorter workdays and some days off because at that point they had been working around the clock, 12-hour days, every day of the week the American worker was desperate for time off. And children were working alongside their parents, as young as five or six, and those little children received only a fraction of what their parents or other adults made. So parents were making an average, as a common worker, a dollar to a dollar fifty a day. Now, if they had a more specialized job then they probably made a little more for day. But imagine a young child, as young as five or six, still working as hard as they could but making only 10% or 20% of a daily wage. Now, if you think about it, a dollar, that's only 10 cents out of a dollar, or 20 cents out of a dollar for a daily wage. I think that's terrible.

Speaker 1: 5:41

Well, Shilin, before we take our first break, I really want to ask you this question. I can't imagine any of my grandchildren having to work at a place such as you just talked about. This young age.

Speaker 3: 5:58

Well, I agree with you. When I thought about it, I can't imagine a child as young as a kindergartener because that's what a five or six year old is working machinery and I'm talking about heavy, big machinery. In my mind I can see my granddaughter, my oldest one, pushing a wheelbarrow of stuff down an aisle in factory where the cleaning wasn't done on the aisles, and I can imagine her dirty face and sweat coming from her body due to improper ventilation and factories and it being hot in the summer, but then in the winter I'm thinking I can see her breath coming because there's no heat in the factory. Nothing was standard to her and many times accidents occurs and they will on the job anyway in today's times but there might have been an adult or a child that was injured or even died because of the dangerous work that. Did Workers really complain to the staff and the management about these conditions in these companies, but nothing ever seemed to happen to make it any better.

Speaker 1: 7:05

Let's take a fast break and when we come back, listeners we're going to tell you more about Labor Day and what we're doing for Labor Day ourselves. We'll be right back.

Speaker 2: 7:17

The URG Scholarship Foundation was founded in 2014 in honor of individuals who give their talent, time and, very often, their own finances, to ensure the growth and success of the automotive recycling industry. We understand college is not for everyone, so each year the Foundation offers substantial financial scholarships to auto recycling employees and the children of employees that are attending four-year and technical or trade schools, to assist with their education. Don't leave money on the table. If you have a child or if you're interested in attending continuing education, this money is available to you. Go to u-or-gcom and click on the Scholarship Foundation tab. Urg keeping our industry strong through education.

Speaker 1: 8:10

Welcome back listeners. Every week you will bring you new and forward programs, like this special edition of Labor Day. Remember we're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, google Play, stitcher, iheart Media, amazon or wherever you get your podcast. So let me do this. Sheila, what was the first company that had workers actually go on strike?

Speaker 3: 8:37

In 1877, there was the Great Railroad Strike we had as a country. We were already in our fourth year of a recession, so wages were down. People were tired of working every day, and the company involved with the first strike was really the B&O Railroad, and that's located in Martin'sburg, west Virginia. What they did was they announced that wages would be reduced by 10%. So think about it People who are working long hours with no time off and don't deserve to work for less money, but B&O demands a 10% reduction in pay. They really just poured fuel on the fires. What they did?

Speaker 1: 9:21

Well, Sheila, let me ask this one. I believe what you're saying in all this stuff. There were other events that caused a similar issue with workers. Tell our listeners a little bit about the A-market workers.

Speaker 3: 9:35

Okay, in 1886, that involved the American Federation of Labor they called for a general strike in Chicago, the city of Chicago, and they were demanding an eight-hour workday. And that is known today as the Haymarket Fair, and that's because of the area that it happened at. That Haymarket strike quickly became violent. Somebody decided it was a brilliant idea to throw a bomb into the crowd, but that bomb killed some policemen and injured many workers. I think it was even 65 workers, to be exact. Another important strike was the Haystead Strike, the Homestead, pennsylvania. There was a dispute between the workers and obviously the Railroad Company.

Speaker 3: 10:19

But the Railroad Company walked out the workers. So they got a brilliant idea let's just walk them out, they can't work. And they thought it was such a great idea to bring in private security. But what it did was it caused more violence. And that strike involved the famous today that we know, carnegie Steel Company and the Iron Workers Association.

Speaker 1: 10:41

Okay, Carnegie Steel was a big steel company. I know what did both sides want.

Speaker 3: 10:48

Well, the dispute began when the plant manager got a brilliant idea.

Speaker 3: 10:52

He wanted to out-pay cuts for the hundreds of Homestead workers and he refused to negotiate with the union. So he locked the steel workers out, hired 300 armed guards from the Pinkerton Detective Agency we all are familiar with that and they were supposed to protect the non-union strike breakers, the people they brought in to continue working during the strike. Well, here's what each side really wanted. Carnegie Steel obviously wanted, as a company, wanted to reduce employee wages, and they really wanted to disband the union. But the union, on the other side, wanted to help the workers get more money in their pockets but also provide better working conditions. And there are many other major events that happened to kind of move this labor movement along. There were other big companies that were also involved too as well.

Speaker 1: 11:50

Well, folks, let's take a real fast break and we'll be right back after the break.

Speaker 2: 11:58

URG can help you streamline your business for maximum efficiency and increased profits. Access powerful software and unique tools. Receive top level training with industry experts. Network with hundreds of recyclers. Employee e-commerce solutions to boost business. Receive support, resources and discounts Starting at just $150 a month. The smartest investment you will make for your business this year Go to u-r-gcom and click on Become a Member. Your path to a profitable future is just to click away. That's u-r-gcom.

Speaker 1: 12:38

Welcome back listeners. You are listening to the URG Podcast on the go. Every week you will bring you new and formative programs, like this special edition on Labor Day. Remember we're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, google Play, stitcher, iheart Media, amazon or wherever you get your podcast. Alright, sheila, I'm sure there had to be other major events that happened to help move this labor movement along. I'm interested. I know our listeners are interested in the Pullman train company and the luxury car train. Explain to our listeners about that.

Speaker 3: 13:18

Well, that was actually the Pullman Palace car company. I have to say that's slow to get all the words in, but the issue was about the luxury train that really provided wealthy and your upper middle class riders with luxurious living and sleeping quarters when they traveled by train. Now former slaves provided the ballet services. So when the Pullman wanted to save money and reduce wages for their employees, they reduced the wages all the way down 30% not about 10%, but 30%, like other companies had done in the past. This included the servers on the train as well as the common workers who were actually making the train.

Speaker 3: 14:04

So carpenters and silver plate workers made the most money, obviously because they were more specialized anywhere from $3 to $3.50 per day. But the average worker made $1 to $1.50 per day and if they happen to live in a company rental then their rent wasn't reduced, even though their wages were being reduced by 30%. So when you look at it from our perspective now, greed certainly lined the pockets of the owners and upper management. But there was a head of the Railway Union. His name was Eugene Debs. He kind of took notice.

Speaker 3: 14:45

He got involved in the Pullman car strike and thought it was a brilliant idea to persuade all other railroad companies to remove those Pullman cars, Kind of his sympathy for those Pullman workers. So he was trying to push the company out of business in the long run.

Speaker 1: 15:04

That might have seemed like a good idea at the time, Sheila, but what happened after that? And tell our listeners what helped the attention of the Pullman car company that caused us the reaction after this.

Speaker 3: 15:20

Deb's kind of fueled the train workers' anger with the fire escape so he just thought he could talk a little bit. But it was so fiery that he made it at his protest rally that it prompted some protesters to set fire to a nearby building and that caused derailment of a US mail train. And all of us know, listening, that you can't ever mess with the US mail They've got to go through. So that really made everybody sit up and take notes and kind of as a sidebar here later eventually a George Pullman, the owner of the company, passed away. And do you know who took his place? It was the son of Abraham Lincoln, robert Todd Lincoln.

Speaker 3: 16:05

He ran that company as president for about 14 years after Pullman died. But until Lincoln took over things looked pretty grim for this company Pullman Palace Car Company to try to stay in business. So some protesters were prosecuted, they were in, some were imprisoned. I think it was several that were executed, while three were eventually pardoned by the governor's successor. But none of it in the long run should have ever happened that way. But it did start negotiations for better working conditions than wages for workers.

Speaker 1: 16:42

Yeah, I was going to say. I didn't know about Lincoln's son Todd doing all this.

Speaker 3: 16:47

Well, I didn't either, and so I checked in deeper.

Speaker 1: 16:50

Now let me ask you about Eugene Depp. How did he get away with this addition? And I mean, I understand what it was, what he probably wanted to happen, but it seems to me he used a lot of muscle instead of his brain.

Speaker 3: 17:06

Well, I kind of agree with you.

Speaker 3: 17:08

Depp spent six months in jail for his part in that for inciting violence, but he later would spend several decades in prison for other stuff that he did. So he was kind of a hothead. He entered the railroad work at age 14, but through the years he became an activist, and here's why, while he was in jail, the first time he spent he started studying the writings of Karl Marx, and we know that's not a good thing. Depp was convinced that the only way to get the right change that was needed was through enforcement. So to some degree it kind of reminds me of what's going on in the country today. Political activists and climate change activists are trying to get us to believe what they believe and to make changes, kind of in an enforcing way. So but here's what happened to Depp.

Speaker 3: 18:01

He ran for president on the socialist ticket. However, I kind of looked it up to see how many votes he'd made that he would have gotten while he was president. He made he got a short of a million of the votes. I think it was 900 or something, 900,000 or something while he ran for president and he was in jail while he went and ran. So, dj, it's kind of been a struggle for the American workers for a long time and some of the labor movement was good, but some of it, you know it was very ugly. So at the height of the Industrial Revolution, americans really wanted things quicker and better, selection so. But it took years for labor laws and better working conditions to kind of catch up with our industrial progress.

Speaker 3: 18:46

So thankfully today we do have labor laws in place for our workers and they make what we do better for our customers, because businesses really give them better wages and working conditions than our past generations really had.

Speaker 1: 19:03

We're almost at the end, sheila, so here's the question I want to end with what were some of the ends for this podcast? If you'd be trying to, what were some of the quotes about Labor Day?

Speaker 3: 19:17

I picked out a couple and, yes, I would like to finish with those. This is one in particular from Martin Luther King Jr. We all know him as having what he did for civil rights and I know they just celebrated his. I have a dream speech just recently but here's what he said about the labor movement History is a great teacher.

Speaker 3: 19:43

Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation, but enlarged it by raising the living standards of millions. Labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to under-undrained levels of production. Those who attack labor forget the simple truth, but history remembers them. Martin Luther King Jr was really intuitive about the labor movement and DJ. Here's another quote that I saw from Dan Miller. He's the author of the book 48 Days to the Work you Love. Money is ultimately never enough compensation for investing one's time and energy. There must be a sense, and here's the three things he was talking about a sense of purpose, meaning and accomplishment. So whether your business or supervisor or team leader doesn't matter. You just need to have that sense of purpose, meaning and accomplishment and remind them that you're in business.

Speaker 1: 20:59

Taylor, I want to tell the URG people and if you'd be kind enough, we had a daughter you guys that listened to your URG podcast and I told Sheila last night before we did this podcast. It's a special edition for Labor Day Our daughter Erin. You've heard us talk about her and her grandkids. Their second home is in Treasure Island, florida, and if you watched the news yesterday, the mayor of Treasure Island Florida was standing at three to four feet of water and talking to people about there. So I immediately called Erin and she's home safely, her husband's home safely. They got the boat out of the water and they're home here in Georgia and we, chuck Camp and I there's a lot of rain in Georgia but we didn't lose power. But there's a lot of families that lost power. So, sheila, tell them a little bit about what happened with Erin.

Speaker 3: 21:58

Well, you know she's going to have to go to Florida to check on the house to see what kind of personal damage there is down there. So they're not those first few streets of Treasure Island like where all the water damage basically is. They obviously had rain because they're in the 8th street. But she will be going down there to check on the house and see what kind of damage is there and try to help out. So that's thank goodness. They had the Labor Day weekend and extra day off from school for the kids to go, but we will be taking care of the dogs, that'll be all right the grand dog will be taken care of, so it's a little bit different.

Speaker 3: 22:38

Well, Labor Day this year. Normally it's a celebration, but I just pray that the workers down there who are doing that disaster recovery will be okay as they go through and try to help people restore themselves to what they had before, that they'll all be safe and come home safely.

Speaker 1: 22:57

You got it and, guys, you know that I'm a believer, so keep the people in Maui and our prayers also, and all the people that had the hurricane problem here in the United States. But the people in Maui need your prayers continuously. And without further ado. You have a blessed Labor Day weekend and we'll see you next time on the URG. Out the go by next. Thanks for listening.