Reflections and Suggestions on Labor Day Weekend
What are you doing to celebrate Labor Day? Like so many three day weekends in the U.S., the original point of Labor Day has sort of gotten lost in the shuffle. (President's Day mattress sale anyone?) I spent a little time this morning looking up the history of Labor Day and found this on History.com.
"On May 11, 1894, workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago struck to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. They sought support from their union led by Eugene V. Debs and on June 26 the American Railroad Union called a boycott of all Pullman railway cars. Within days, 50,000 rail workers complied and railroad traffic out of Chicago came to a halt. On July 4, President Grover Cleveland dispatched troops to Chicago. Much rioting and bloodshed ensued, but the government's actions broke the strike and the boycott soon collapsed. Debs and three other union officials were jailed for disobeying the injunction. The strike brought worker's rights to the public eye and Congress declared, in 1894, that the first Monday in September would be the holiday for workers, known as Labor Day."
A couple of things strike me about that story. One is how much history we overlook in our focus on the now. We forget where we've come from. The other is that people shouting at health care town halls, however rude their behavior is, is a long way from sending the Army in to break up a strike. A little historical perspective can be helpful in evaluating what's going on today. The cable news culture can make history seem like whatever was caught on video tape a few hours ago. That doesn't exactly encourage thoughtful reflection or dialogue.
But, I digress. Back to the opening question - what are you doing to celebrate Labor Day? Here are some suggestions:
- Thank Your Co-Workers: Before you leave work today, thank some co-workers for what they do. Tell them what you appreciate about their contribution and why it matters. They'll appreciate it and you'll feel better having done so.
- Go to a Parade: If there's a Labor Day parade in your community, go watch it. It will reconnect you with our country's history and your own.
- Unplug: Spend some time with friends and family having fun. Go for a walk. Watch some baseball or football. Declare Monday an e-mail free zone. The day after Labor Day represents the start of the sprint to the end of the year. Take the time to recharge your batteries for the next leg.
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Executive coach Scott Eblin’s goal is to help you succeed at the next level of leadership. Throughout the week, he’ll offer his take on the leadership lessons in the news and his advice on your most pressing leadership questions. A former government executive, Scott is a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is the author of The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success.
Of course, Labor Day everywhere else in the world is May 1st...interesting how Congress was careful to disassociate our Labor Day from the international one.
Michaël Trout Posted Tuesday, September 8, 2009 11:06 AMThank you for putting Thank Your Co-Workers as #1 here.
In a recent GovExec posting either in this section or the Fedblog, there was an information list about how top management looks at strategy and issues as compared to middle management and other employees.
One was that "don't focus on the Process, i.e., how hard you work; focus on the results and outcome".
Often, political appointees, senior executives and others at the top are to be reminded that the "how" is a critical component to achieving the outcome and results desired. The process and hard work enables you to reach the desired outcome.
Analogies are in manufacturing or in sports.
jj Posted Tuesday, September 8, 2009 12:36 PMHistory.com got a lot of things right in their write up on Labor Day, but there is more to the story. We've seen how MLK Day became a holiday--it started with a lot of local celebrations right after King's death, a political movement got behind it, and years later Reagan signed it into law after threatening a veto. Labor Day has a history before Grover Cleveland signed it into law in 1894. Labor Day actually started in Canada, and commemorates the 1864 overturning of a section of English Common Law which made unions "criminal conspiracies"--the newpaper publishers had the leaders of the printers union indicted for leading a strike that year. The strike was for the nine hour day (and the six day week!). Mass protests, strikes and political action resulted in the Canadian law be overturned. American labor leaders like PJ McGuire of the Carpenters were invited to speak at Canadaian Labour Day rallies, and started Labor Day celebrations back in their hometowns.
In 1894, after the big rail strike, labor commissions were set up in both Canada and the US, and made a series of recommendations for labor peace, around child labor, hours of work, union recogntion, etc., and both commissions recommended making Labor Day an official national holiday, which was immediately adopted. Labor Day was born in struggle.
Peter Winch Posted Tuesday, September 8, 2009 3:34 PM