Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day has been celebrated in America since 1882.
According to the United States Department of Labor, the holiday was first celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, per the city’s Central Labor Union’s proposed plans. A year later, the Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday. The Central Labor Union urged other cities across the nation to celebrate the “workingmen’s holiday” and by 1885, the holiday was celebrated in many of the country’s industrial centers.
By 1887, Oregon passed the first official Labor Day legislation. On June 28, 1874, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
The influence of labor unions may not be as strong today as they were years ago. You can find a list of the most active national labor organizations here.
All Americans, whether they work in organized labor or are self-employed, pay a significant portion of our earnings to the Social Security fund, an “entitlement” we are told are going broke. Did you know that the Bush administration reached an agreement called the Social Security ‘totalization agreement’ Mexico, which would make hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens eligible for Social Security? According to presidential candidate Bob Barr,
“A Mexican citizen could work as little as 18 months in the U.S. and still qualify for a lifetime of Social Security benefits.”
Learn more about Social Security payments to Mexican citizens at Barr’s website.
This weekend, I’m ignoring politics and instead, plan on having a lot of holiday fun. I have a houseful of friend over and we’ll do a lot of eating and celebrating. I hope you have as much fun this weekend, as well.
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In some countries, the Government has been thinking their employees' holiday for long time ago. They gave great time to holiday once in a year, many people went around the world to spend their holidays. But in my country, Indonesia it is hard to get holiday. I mean, no matter how prestigious your job, but if it's not has big salary, you can't go to other country. Yeah, so bad. That's why many people of my country looking for a job in another country like china, Malaysia and Arab Saudi.