Celebrate, remember origins of Labor Day

Labor Day in Minnesota typically marks the end of the Minnesota State Fair and the beginning of the school year.
Before it gets lost in buckets of Sweet Martha’s Cookies and the luxury of a long, holiday weekend, there’s time to think about the history of Labor Day—and how the labor movement transformed the way we work and live today.
In the 1800s, workers across the U.S. faced brutal and often dangerous conditions in factories, mines, and logging camps. They suffered through long shifts, extremely low pay, discrimination, and even physical abuse from cruel overseers and owners.
Unrest among workers peaked in 1894, after the Pullman Company hit employees with wage cuts, while continuing high rents for company housing. The resulting strike disrupted railroads across the country.
When President Grover Cleveland called in federal troops to enforce a court order, the resulting clashes with workers in Chicago resulted in around 30 deaths.
Even before the fatalities, Congress passed, and Cleveland signed, a bill designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day across the country. The move was largely political; a Democrat, Cleveland needed to mend fences with his party.
Minnesota’s labor movement has deep roots — and its own history of violent labor clashes. The state recognized Labor Day as a holiday a full year ahead of the federal law. Then in 1934, a Teamsters strike shut down commercial transport in Minneapolis. Clashes between private security, police, and workers escalated, with police eventually shooting at truckers, injuring 67 and killing two men.
The aftermath saw thousands of Minnesota workers following the Teamsters’ leadership and organizing in other professions.
It’s sobering to think that scores of Minnesotans risked injury and even death to secure better working conditions. But the results are undeniable: The labor movement brought us the 40-hour work week, the elimination of child labor, retirement and health insurance plans, and, most importantly, the opportunity to negotiate for higher salaries, better benefits, and improvements to workplace safety.
This Labor Day, we remember those whose efforts and sacrifices paved the road to a better life for American workers. May we never take those hard-fought gains for granted.