We at Private Home Health Care would like to wish everyone a very Happy Labor Day!

You and I work very hard throughout the year so it’s nice to have a day off to celebrate.

Have you heard, like we have heard, that some of our younger people may not realize why we have this day off from work?  Just in case that is true here is a quick explanation of how hte day began.

The holiday has been around for about 129 years. At the beginning, the industrial revolution was in full swing in our United States.  Workers often had 12-hour days, seven days a week.  Children ages five and six were also working for lower ages.  Conditions could be poor.

You know there are labor unions for today’s workers. These came into existence to curb the overworking and bad conditions of the average worker in the 1800’s.

Unfortunately, the early unions had learning curves.

For example, at the Pullman Car Palace Company in Chicago there were bad conditions and then workers were told of reduced wages.  That strike was on and union representatives were fired.

If you look back in the history books, Pullman was the lead company in railroad transportation.  When there was a call for the whole Pullman company to strike you can imagine how that hindered railroad shipping across the country.

The next actions by the federal government trying to stop these strikes caused workers who were rioting to be killed.  This caused a huge rift with the US government.

As you can imagine, Congress quickly wrote a law making the first Monday in September a holiday for all workers.  Grover Cleveland was the President and he happily signed the bill on June 28, 1894.

You and I, along with our family and friends, celebrate this day and throughout the weekend each year.  Cookouts, trips, even some fireworks mark the commemorating all the achievements of the United States workforce.

We hope you enjoy it!