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Monday, Sep. 07, 2009

Our View: Labor Day holiday born amid strife

Pullman strike fallout more than 100 years ago was the inspiration for our national day off.

The origins of Labor Day were far from what has become our end-of-summer day off.

The holiday came into being as an act of reconciliation after terrible labor strife.

President Grover Cleveland signed it into law in 1894, just days after federal troops, which he'd ordered to Chicago, broke the famous Pullman strike.

The national holiday's beginnings were less a cause for celebration than a hope that the nation could turn the page on an era of friction between workers and management that too often turned violent.

That era is, perhaps, the starkest reminder of how this country has struggled to balance the interests of workers and businesses.

It is also an important marker that we have made progress as a nation.

The 1890s were a time of turbulent change in this country -- industrialization, urbanization and immigration.

The 1892 presidential campaign took place in the shadow of the steelworkers' strike outside Pittsburgh, which involved vicious beatings and bloody gun battles between workers and Pinkerton detectives.

Then came the financial Panic of 1893 and the severe recession of 1893-1894.

The Pullman railroad sleeping car company laid off one-third of its workers and cut wages 25 percent. But it did not cut rent or food prices in Pullman, the company town near Chicago where the workers lived.

The 3,300 remaining Pullman workers organized a union and went on strike. Nationwide, 125,000 railroad workers joined in with a boycott, refusing to handle trains with Pullman cars.

In California, boycotters took over the three main railroad centers at Sacramento, Oakland and Los Angeles and shut down all major Western rail lines. (Read "Three weeks that shook the Nation and California's capital: The Pullman strike of 1894 was a national and local calamity" by Edward Howes at www.californiahistorian.com.)

President Cleveland sent 12,000 troops to Chicago. The timing was unfortunate.

On Independence Day, amid fireworks, workers started tipping over rail cars and building blockades against federal troops. Days of riots and fires ensued.

Troops fired into a crowd, people were killed. The strike was broken. The Pullman plant reopened and workers signed pledges not to unionize.

But across the nation people protested President Cleveland's actions. An Illinois congressman introduced a Labor Day holiday bill and it passed both houses unanimously.

President Cleveland signed it just six days after troops had broken the Pullman strike.

So we have our holiday.

Today, as we face an economic downturn, amidst great technological and demographic change, it may seem that we have little to celebrate. Many have lost their homes, their jobs and seen retirement savings tank. Incomes are flat.

But we have made much progress as a nation since that first Labor Day in working conditions and quality of life.

Economic recovery will come and the march toward a more perfect union continues.

Editorials are the opinion of the Merced Sun-Star editorial board. Members of the editorial board include Publisher Hank Vander Veen, Executive Editor Mike Tharp, Editorial Page Editor Keith Jones, Copy Desk Chief Jesse Chenault and Online Editor Brandon Bowers.