Page 20 - SEPTEMBE 2018 Newsletter

Labor Day and the need to continue the good fight
Summer in Chicago is drawing to a close. The City has seen a high rate of crime in the streets, and Lodge 7 continues to witness
an attack on law enforcement. As talk
about the consent decree continues to dominate headlines, it is more important
than ever to recognize the significance of Labor Day. For the men and women in blue,
it is more than the end of a season — it should
be a time to reflect on the huge gains the labor movement has brought to America and all that Lodge 7 has done (and will continue to do) to protect those who serve the communities in which they live and work.
When most people think of Labor Day, they think of a long holiday weekend. However, as members of Lodge 7, Police Officers know that this day off work for most civilians is so much more than an excuse for an extra vacation day. It cele- brates the day that workers first stood together to show how strong we could be when we combined together to fight for our rights. Today, those rights are threatened by some outside forces that do not understand the importance of what sworn Police Officers do on a daily basis (either through ignorance or for political purposes). But Lodge 7 vows to continue to
protect those rights. LaborDay,whichalwaysoccursonthefirstMondayin September, is a day to honor everything that American
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workers have achieved, both socially and economi- cally. It is a once-a-year tribute to the contributions that working people have made to the well-being of
our country.
According to the Department of Labor, the first La-
bor Day was celebrated in 1882 in New York City. It was first proposed as a holiday by Matthew Maguire, who was serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. News of the holiday spread, and by 1884, other organizations began to follow New York City’s example and also held Labor Day celebrations on the first Monday in September. Much like the labor movement itself, Labor Day began on a local scale, then spread to states and eventually to the entire nation.
On February 21, 1887, Oregon became the first state to adopt Labor Day as a legal holiday. By 1892, more than half the states had adopted the first Monday in September as a day to honor the labor movement in America. On June 28, 1894, the U.S. Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and all the territories.
20 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2018