Labor Day 

Labor Day is the traditional end of Summer. But here in the Bay Area, it’s not time to put away the shorts and sandals quite yet – traditionally September and October are some of our warmest months!

Labor Day honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws, and well-being of the country.

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.  “Labor Day” was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City.

Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday in 1887.  During 1887 four more states –  Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York – created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.   

More than a century after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.  Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”  But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

Canada’s Labour Day is also celebrated on the first Monday of September.  

At any rate, we hope that you are enjoying this ‘end of Summer’ holiday.  We’re open on Labor Day, and have lots of cheese and wine to sell you; come by and say hello!