While in most part of the world, May Day (1st May) is celebrated as International Labour Day, to honour the workers and their contributions to the society, in the United States and Canada the first Monday in September is being observed for the same purpose. In both the countries, the Labour Day is a statutory holiday, which is dedicated to paying yearly national tribute to the contributions of workers to the strength, prosperity and well being of these countries.
As per the records, the first Labour Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, 5 September 1882 in New York City in accordance with the plans of the Central Labour Union. The Union held its second Labour Day holiday just a year later, on 5 September 1883. From 1884 onwards, the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labour Union urged similar organisations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a ‘workingmen's holiday’ on that day. The idea spread with the growth of labour organisations, and in 1885, Labour Day was celebrated in many industrial centres of the United States.
Still Looking for Father
Even after 140 years of observance of the Labour Day, there are still doubts as to who first proposed the holiday for workers. Peter J. McGuire, one of the founders of the American Federation of Labour, has traditionally been known as the 'Father of Labour Day', as he was first in suggesting a day to honour those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold". However, while recognising McGuire’s contribution, the Canadian Labour Movement is keen in claiming claim the title of originator of Labour Day. Relevant historical evidences have been cited to establish that McGuire obtained the original idea for the establishment of an annual demonstration and public holiday from the Canadian trade unionists.
The Canadian account of the history of Labour Day dates back to a decade before the first observance of the day in 1882. As per this, on 15 April 1872, the Toronto Trades Assembly, perhaps the original central labour body in Canada, organised the first North American 'workingman's demonstration' in a significant manner. About 10,000 Torontonians turned out to see the parade and listen to the speeches calling for abolition of the law, which decreed that trade unions were criminal conspiracies in restraint of trade. The freedom of 24 imprisoned leaders of the Toronto Typographical Union, who were on strike to secure the nine-hour working day, was the immediate purpose of the parade.
Toronto was not the only city to witness a labour parade in 1872. On 3 September, members of seven unions in Ottawa organised a parade more than a mile long, headed by the Garrison Artillery band and flanked by city fireman carrying torches. The Ottawa parade wound its way to the home of Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald, where the marchers hoisted him into a carriage and drew him to Ottawa City Hall by torchlight. The Prime Minister, aware of the discontent of workers with the laws which made unions illegal, in a ringing declaration from the steps of the City Hall, promised the marchers that his party would 'sweep away all such barbarous laws from the statute books'. Subsequently, the Canadian government in 1872 repealed the offending conspiracy laws.
The tradition of organising the workers’ demonstration established by the Toronto Trades Assembly was continued through the seventies and into the early 1880s.
In 1882, the Toronto Trades and Labour Council, successor to the Toronto Trades Assembly, decided to organise the annual demonstration and picnic for 22 July. The council sent an invitation to Peter J. McGuire of New York requesting his services of as a speaker for the occasion. McGuire was the founder and General Secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, which came into existence the previous year. It was in 1882 itself that McGuire proposed at a meeting of the New York Central Labour Union that a festive day be set aside for a demonstration and picnic. Accordingly, the Labour Day was first celebrated in New York on 5 September 1882. It is apparent, however, that the custom had developed in Canada and the invitation sent to McGuire prompted his suggestion to the New York labour body.
Confusion Continues
Even, the undisputed place of Peter McGuire in Labour Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labour Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labour Union adopted a Labour Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
Soon after its commencement, pressure for legislation to declare a national holiday for Labour Day was exerted in both the United States and Canada. In America, the first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From there, developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on 21 February 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labour Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honour of the workers, and on 28 June that year, the Congress passed an Act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. In Canada also, the government of Sir John Thompson enacted such a legislation on 23 July 1894 with the Prime Minister piloting the Bill through Parliament against the opposition of some of his Conservative followers.
The form that the observance and celebration of Labour Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labour organisations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labour Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labour convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labour Day was adopted as “Labour Sunday” and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labour movement.
The character of the Labour Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centres where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labour Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television, in both the United States and Canada.