Happy Labor Day!

Well, at least if you’re reading this in the USA… for the rest of you, this may sound a bit strange.

While most of the world celebrates a form of “labor day” on May 1st (better known as May Day), the US celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday of September.

Here at GiddyUp, we’re huge fans of Labor Day – and no, not just because it’s a day off! Labor Day is a day in which we recognize and celebrate the American worker. Without them, we’d hardly see any of the incredible innovation around us… because an idea is just an idea until someone (or millions of people) brings it to life.

But we’re also the curious type… which led us to ask a few questions: First, who came up with this idea? And second, why is Labor Day different in the US?

Let’s dive into it – starting with the first question!

Who invented Labor Day?

The answer to this is a bit tricky – but the best answer is that workers invented labor day.

The official public holiday dates back to 1894 – when President Grover Cleveland declared it a national holiday.

 

But that’s not the true beginning! As it turns out, Labor Day was actually celebrated by more than 30 states for years before it became an official holiday.

The first official Labor Day celebration was held in New York City on September 5th, 1882. More than 10,000 workers joined in a parade along the streets of the city, eventually congregating at Union Square.

These early Labor Days were unpaid, so they were more of a protest than a celebration. They demanded recognition for their hard work – which, at the time, often involved long hours and few days off. The main request? An eight-hour workday.

Fun fact: the weekend as we know it wasn’t invented until 1908… and it didn’t truly take off until 1929, when Henry Ford decided to shut down his factories on Saturday and Sunday.

So, yeah… in the beginning, Labor Day celebrations sent a powerful message to the nation. Workers demanded a break – and a better deal overall.

While it’s debatable how successful they were in the long run, things did change. Individual states started picking up on the trend, and by 1894, it was officially signed into law.

So, why is the US different from everywhere else?

As you may know, there’s more than one Labor Day.The one most people around the world know is “International Worker’s Day”.

This holiday is celebrated on the first day of May. It’s widely known as “May Day” – but don’t confuse it with the cry for help. The well-known term “mayday” actually comes from a mistake!

 

Frederick Mockford, a radio officer at the Croydon Airport in London, came up with the term “mayday” as a distress call. The reason? He thought it sounded like “m’aider”, which is French for “help me”.

As for International Worker’s Day, that was first created in 1889. The idea was proposed in Paris during a meeting of the Marxist International Socialist Congress. They wanted to promote the idea of an eight-hour working day, and decided a day of “great international demonstration” would be the best way to get the job done.

While not everyone works an eight-hour day, it has become the standard… so we can call their efforts a success!

Guess what? There are even more Labor Days…

Of course, International Worker’s Day and the US Labor Day aren’t the only examples of days set aside to recognize workers’ rights.

For example, Canada celebrates it on the same day as the US… but it’s unrelated to the American version. (They actually started celebrating theirs even earlier, in 1872!)

And get this: Australia celebrates three Labor Days (oh, sorry: Labour Days) depending on where you are. One is on the first Monday of October… another is on the first Monday of March… and some tag along with the international date, celebrating it on the first day of May.

So no matter where you are, chances are good there’s at least one day of the year set aside to celebrate (and protect) laborers. While they may not be as dire as before, we still see demonstrations and celebrations on these days.

So here’s to workers all over the world – while today may be set aside for the American workforce, surely it can’t hurt to think about everyone who works hard for our shared benefit.

We hope you learned something interesting today. Enjoy your holiday weekend, and we’ll see you next week!