Feeling smug and Happy? Labor Day all

OK, last night I put out the garbage as it's picked up (I'm cheap once every two weeks) on Monday and a few of the neighbors did the same, but not all. This morning I heard the sound of the "Beep..Beep..Beep" as the garbage truck backed into the area to load. Man, you should have seen the others who didn't put out their garbage cans flying about the houses!

Now, how did I know they'd come today, though it's "Labor Day"?? Simple, at $37.50 per hour (Double time + Holiday Pay) do you not think even a one armed 18 year old is going to refuse that pay?? I lived with my sister and we had the garbage guy come by on a holiday and we asked and that's why he was working the shift..$$$$$

And now, for a bit of history..Sad also...:(

A tragic tale
Back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, workers were expected to put in 12-hour days, seven days a week (yes, including kids). Already sounds awful, right? It gets worse. In Pullman, Illinois, a company town that employed and housed workers to build posh railway cars, times had gotten tough. In response, George Pullman cut jobs and wages. It was 1893. Thousands of workers walked off their jobs in protest, demanding higher salaries and lower rents. Other unions joined, refusing to work the Pullman cars, turning the small-town fracas into a national fury.

With mail cars backing up, and riots worrying train execs, President Grover Cleveland stepped in. He declared the strike illegal and sent 12,000 troops to break the strike. Cue brutal protests and bloodshed. The strike was broken, but so was the spirit of the workers. To reach out to the labor movement, Congress rushed the national holiday into law. The bad will resulted in Cleveland losing re-election. But the day off for hot dogs endures.

When is it?
Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September. This year, that would be Monday, September 7. According to the Department of Labor, Congress passed an act in 1894 making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.

So, working stiffs everywhere, say it now, with feeling: Happy Labor Day.

Hey very cool reading Gene....thanks for all the fun facts! I guess life today ain't so bad after all is it?

Lips