Labor Day: How the mov't became a national holiday
Political heritage
While Americans of all ideological stripes celebrate Labor Day today, the observance has roots in the labor movement and thus has a more partisan aspect.
Labor Day arose from increased strikes demanding an eight-hour workday and better working conditions for factory workers.
The immediate cause of the creation of a federal Labor Day was the fallout from the violent breakup of a strike in Chicago in June of 1894, according to History.
"To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers," noted the site. "In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories."
As time passed, changes emerged in how people celebrated and thought of the first Monday in September, which is widely observed even as union membership in the U.S. is hitting record lows.
