Eleven-year-old Peter McGuire sold papers on the street in New York
City. He shined shoes and cleaned stores and later ran errands. It was
1863 and his father, a poor Irish immigrant, had just enlisted to
fight in the Civil War. Peter had to help support his mother and six
brothers and sisters.
Many immigrants settled in New York City in the nineteenth century.
They found that living conditions were not as wonderful as they had
dreamed. Often there were six families crowded into a house made for
one family. Thousands of children had to go to work. Working
conditions were even worse. Immigrant men, women and children worked
in factories for ten to twelve hours a day, stopping only for a short
time to eat. They came to work even if they were tired or sick because
if they didn't, they might be fired. Thousands of people were waiting
to take their places.
When Peter was 17, he began an apprenticeship in a piano shop. This
job was better than his others, for he was learning a trade, but he
still worked long hours with low pay. At night he went to meetings and
classes in economics and social issues of the day. One of the main
issues of concern pertained to labor conditions. Workers were tired of
long hours, low pay and uncertain jobs. They spoke of organizing
themselves into a union of laborers to improve their working
conditions. In the spring of 1872, Peter McGuire and 100,000 workers
went on strike and marched through the streets, demanding a decrease
in the long working day.
This event convinced Peter that an organized labor movement was
important for the future of workers' rights. He spent the next year
speaking to crowds of workers and unemployed people, lobbying the city
government for jobs and relief money. It was not an easy road for
Peter McGuire. He became known as a "disturber of the public peace."
The city government ignored his demands. Peter himself could not find
a job in his trade. He began to travel up and down the east coast to
speak to laborers about unionizing. In 1881, he moved to St. Louis,
Missouri, and began to organize carpenters there. He organized a
convention of carpenters in Chicago, and it was there that a national
union of carpenters was founded. He became General Secretary of the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
The idea of organizing workers according to their trades spread
around the country. Factory workers, dock workers and toolmakers all
began to demand and get their rights to an eight-hour workday, a
secure job and a future in their trades. Peter McGuire and laborers in
other cities planned a holiday for workers on the first Monday in
September, halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day.
On September 5, 1882 the first Labor Day parade was held in New
York City. Twenty thousand workers marched in a parade up Broadway.
They carried banners that read "LABOR CREATES ALL WEALTH," and "EIGHT
HOURS FOR WORK, EIGHT HOURS FOR REST, EIGHT HOURS FOR RECREATION!"
After the parade there were picnics all around the city. Workers and
celebrants ate Irish stew, homemade bread and apple pie. At night,
fireworks were set off. Within the next few years, the idea spread
from coast to coast, and all states celebrated Labor Day. In 1894,
Congress voted it a federal holiday.
Today we celebrate Labor Day with a little less fanfare on the
first Monday of September. Some cities have parades and community
picnics. Many politicians "kick off' their political campaigns by
holding rallies on the holiday. Most Americans consider Labor Day the
end of the summer, and the beaches and other popular resort areas are
packed with people enjoying one last three-day
weekend.