Labor Day - NRRA Office Closed
The NRRA Office is closed for the Labor Day holiday.
What is Labor Day?
Observed the first Monday in September, Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. The holiday is rooted in the late nineteenth century, when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being.
The first American Labor Day celebration was held on September 5, 1882, in New York City. About 10,000 workers marched through the streets to show the strength of labor organizations.
For many years after that, American workers used the first Monday in September to demand better working conditions and pay. Several U.S. cities and states began to recognize the day as Labor Day. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law making it a national holiday.
Music was a part of many Labor Day marches. One American labor song is called Bread and Roses. It is based on a 1911 poem by James Oppenheim. The poem speaks about the women’s labor movement. At that time, conditions in factories, where many women worked, were horrible. A fire at a clothing factory in New York killed 146 people. Most of the victims were immigrant women.