When is Labor Day Weekend 2023? Mark your calendars, it's coming up!
The past two years have seen a resurgence of the labor movement all across the country. Workers from Staten Island to Mesa, Arizona are moving to unionize, forcing the hand of major corporations like Amazon and Starbucks.
Their concern: What is the significance of the worker in America? What is the value of their labor?
Each year, Americans pause to reflect on that very question. Since the 1890s, the nation has had a legally designated day meant to honor labor and the hard-working folks who produce it.
This is the history of that holiday.
When is Labor Day 2023?
Labor Day will be Mon. September 4, 2023.
When is Labor Day Weekend 2023?
Given that Labor Day is a Monday, it always makes a long weekend. The weekend preceding is "Labor Day Weekend."
This year, it will begin Sat. September 2, 2023.
Is Labor Day always the first Monday in September?
Yes.
Labor Day falls annually on the first Monday in September, and is characterized by the U.S. Department of Labor as a day to mark "the social and economic achievements of American workers."
Why is Labor Day always on a Monday?
Before Labor Day existed as a national observance, labor leaders and individual states celebrated it separately. New York was the first state to introduce a bill acknowledging the holiday, but Oregon was the first to pass a law officially designating the observance.
After some 30 states followed suit, Labor Day was finally recognized nationally. On June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year Labor Day.
What is the meaning of Labor Day?
Over the years, Labor Day and its accompanying weekend have, for many, deviated from its original intent. Marketing campaign blitzes and family vacations mark the holiday rather than a reflection on the value of the American worker.
There is some debate over who the original architect of the holiday was, but the U.S. Labor Department points to two possible names: Peter J. McGuire and Matthew Maguire.
McGuire, who was the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, is recorded in some 1882 historical documents suggesting a "general holiday for the laboring classes."
More recently, research has emerged pointing to Matthew Maguire, the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Patterson, New Jersey, as the holiday's true founder.
Both men reportedly attended the nation's first Labor Day Parade in New York City.
Regardless of origin, the day's intent remains to celebrate the hard-working people who make the country run every day from sanitation workers, to drive-thru employees, to subway conductors, and many more.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When is Labor Day 2023? This history behind the holiday weekend
