{"id":19535,"date":"2026-09-04T08:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/?p=19535"},"modified":"2026-09-08T08:44:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T15:44:34","slug":"labor-day-is-our-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/labor-day-is-our-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day is our holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Labor Day is our holiday<\/strong>\u2014won through the American labor movement\u2019s hard-fought battle for dignity, shorter hours, and fair treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the late 1800s, industrial workers endured 12\u201316 hour days, child labor, deadly workplaces, and poverty wages. Unions answered with organizing and mass action. On September 5, 1882, the Central Labor Union (linked to the Knights of Labor) staged the first Labor Day parade in New York City. Thousands of workers marched for the eight-hour day and the right to organize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leaders like Peter J. McGuire (a founder of the American Federation of Labor) and Matthew Maguire helped spread the idea of a workers\u2019 holiday. Cities and states began adopting it. After the violent 1894 Pullman Strike\u2014when federal troops crushed a nationwide railroad walkout and workers died\u2014Congress and President Grover Cleveland made Labor Day a federal holiday as a concession to organized labor\u2019s growing power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was never a gift from employers or politicians. It was taken by unions and rank-and-file workers who struck, organized, and refused to accept exploitation as inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first parade came five years before the IUPAT\u2019s founding, yet painters were already part of that same struggle. On March 15, 1887, the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators of America (IUPAT\u2019s original name) was organized in Baltimore by tradesmen seeking uniform wages, safer conditions, and collective strength amid the Gilded Age conditions that produced Labor Day. Painters had long been active in the Knights of Labor. Within a year the new craft union grew to more than 100 locals and 7,000 members, affiliated with the AFL, and joined the fight for the eight-hour day and workers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the beginning, IUPAT members marched in Labor Day parades and observances. To this day the union\u2019s constitution requires every District Council and Local Union to treat the first Monday in September as Labor\u2019s holiday\u2014members are barred from working\u2014and sets aside the preceding Sunday as Memorial Sunday to honor deceased brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Labor Day remains what workers made it: a day of remembrance, solidarity, and resolve.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Labor Day is our holiday\u2014won through the American labor movement\u2019s hard-fought battle for dignity, shorter hours, and fair treatment. In the late 1800s, industrial workers endured 12\u201316 hour days, child labor, deadly workplaces, and poverty wages. Unions answered with organizing and mass action. On September 5, 1882, the Central Labor Union (linked to the Knights [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"post_image":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19536,"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19535\/revisions\/19536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dc16iupat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}