For most Georgians, Labor Day means three-day weekend, burgers on the grill, and maybe one last trip to the lake before summer fades. But the holiday wasn’t invented to give car dealerships an excuse to run commercials with waving American flags. It’s not about mattress sales, discounts, or even football kickoff.
Labor Day is about work. More specifically, it’s about workers — which means you.
The roots of the holiday go back to the late 1800s. Back then, American workers weren’t putting in neat little 40-hour weeks. Twelve-hour days, seven days a week, in factories filled with smoke and machinery that could maim or kill you, were common. Kids as young as 10 were pressed into labor. There were no weekends, no overtime pay, no safety rules.
Workers eventually had enough. They organized. They marched. They went on strike. They risked losing their jobs, their homes, sometimes even their lives. They fought for something simple: dignity at work.
In 1894, after a nationwide railroad strike ended in bloodshed when federal troops were sent in, Congress rushed to declare the first Monday in September as Labor Day. It was part tribute, part political move, but the point was clear. The holiday was created to honor the people whose labor built the country — not the bankers, not the politicians, not the bosses in corner offices. Ordinary men and women. People who sweat. People who grind. People who keep the lights on, the water flowing, the classrooms staffed, and the shelves stocked.
Here’s what Labor Day isn’t. It isn’t Memorial Day — that one belongs to fallen soldiers. It isn’t Independence Day — nobody signed the Declaration of Independence in September. And it definitely isn’t “National Boss Day.” Labor Day is a holiday that doesn’t exist to glorify the powerful. It belongs to workers. All workers. If you’ve ever punched a clock, filled out a timesheet, or gone home with sore feet after a shift, this holiday is for you.
If you work for someone else, be it hourly or salary, Labor Day honors you.
It’s also worth remembering what those early labor fights gave us. The eight-hour day. The weekend. Child labor laws. Safety protections. The minimum wage. Paid time off. None of it was handed down by generous bosses motivated by a trickle-down economy. It was won by workers standing together and demanding it. It was won by laws and regulations that would allow workers to spend time at home with their families.
Every barbecue, every beach trip, every extra hour of sleep on this weekend is made possible because people before you fought for the right not to be worked into the ground.
So when Labor Day rolls around, enjoy the break. Fire up the grill, watch the game, take the boat out. But don’t lose sight of what the day is really about. Labor means workers, and workers means you. Without you — and millions like you — nothing in this country runs. This is your holiday.
