The History of Labor Day: From Union Protests to the 40-Hour Work Week

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Labor Day? Well, here’s the 4 1 1 and why it’s so relevant today. So basically, during the late 1800s, capitalism was popping off, and all this new technology like AI, I mean, assembly, trains, steel, was all coming on the scene and making work a lot more efficient. And while this was fantastic for capitalistic warlords, it wasn’t so great for the average American working 12 hour days, seven days a week, weekends. PTO, retirement? Never heard of her. People were literally dying at work. They were getting sick, they were living in slums, they were getting paid absolutely nothing. Their kids were working with them. Then we heard about a little thing called unions. It’s when all the little guys get together and they’re more powerful than the big guy. So on September 5th, a bunch of New Yorkers were like, hey, how about we don’t go to work today? We go over to the square, now called Union Square, and we just, like, have a barbecue and protest. But the capitalistic warlords did not like this boundary setting. They were like, I’ll just work 200 hours a week for a dollar. What’s so hard? But Americans were like, now we’re not gonna do that. So they organized, they protested, they fought. It was violent. And that is the only reason why we have a 40 hour work week. Weekends, PTO, benefits, any of that stuff. So that’s the 4 1 1 and Happy Labor Day!