Labor Day Much More Than End of Summer

When Labor Day comes around it signals the end of summer. Everyone is getting that last day at the beach and finishing up their shares in the Hamptons and closing up their summer homes. The beach cabanas in Brooklyn and New Jersey are closed for another year and you hear everyone say that “The Season is over till next year”.

Everyone else is coming back from vacations and getting ready for the Fall season. Yes, Winter is right around the corner. If you notice there is a chill in the air in the morning and evening and it has already started getting darker earlier. Well, we have come to that time of year again. it is time for us to head back to school.

In Malverne, we are preparing for our yearly Labor Day Picnic at Whelan Field organized by the Malverne Civic Association. (Monday, Sept. 5 at noon.) Last year, we had a great time enjoying spending time with our friends and neighbors and I look forward to seeing you there again this year. It is a good day to just reflect back on what a great summer we had and what we have to look forward to.

But how many people remember that Labor day is a traditional holiday weekend dedicated to celebrate workers and their achievements. We celebrate this day for our forefathers who worked so hard and paved the way for us to have better working conditions, vacations and cabanas.

In the late 1800’s the average person worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks. In some states children as young as 5 or 6 worked in factories across the country earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. They often faced extremely unsafe working conditions with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.
 
The labor unions grew more vocal in defending the rights of their members. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay.

On Sept. 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history. The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. Congress legalized the holiday 12 years later.
  

Labor Day is still celebrated in cities and towns across the United States with parades, picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays and other public gatherings. So as we see it as the end of the summer we should be reflecting back and remembering all of the people who have worked so hard to make a better life for us today. And let us hope that the decisions that we make will make future generations reflect back on us and say that we helped make their lives better.