The majority of national retailers, including Target, Walmart, Kohl's, Macy's, Home Depot, Lowe's and more, are open Monday with holding Labor Day sales. Some grocery stores will have special holiday hours, and other retailers will operate with Sunday hours. Most pharmacies are closed Monday. Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets and banks are closed and the U.S. Postal Service will not deliver mail. Costco Wholesale clubs are closed for the federal holiday like they are for New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Monday also is National Cheese Pizza Day, one of the many pizza food holidays, and some pizzerias will serve up savings. Fall has already arrived at Starbucks and Dunkin’ with the return of pumpkin spice coffee and pastries. McDonald’s, Arby's, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Burger King, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Domino's and more are open Monday. Subway's Footlong Pass started Sept. 1 for 10,000 Subway MyWay Rewards members who bought a $15 subscription for 50% off a sandwich a day.
Why we celebrate Labor Day and the meaning behind it? Labor Day was first celebrated unofficially by labor activists and individual states in the late 1800s, according to the US Department of Labor. New York was the first state to introduce a bill recognizing Labor Day, but Oregon was the first to actually codify it into law in 1887. Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York had followed suit by the end of 1887. Joshua Freeman, a labor historian and professor emeritus at the City University of New York, tells CNN that the holiday developed as unions were beginning to strengthen again after the 1870s recession. In New York City, two events converged that contributed to the formation of Labor Day, Freeman says. First, the now-defunct Central Labor Union was formed as a "umbrella body" for unions across trades and ethnic groups. Additionally, the Knights of Labor, then the largest national labor convention, held a convention in the city, complete with a large parade. But the parade fell on a Tuesday at the start of September and many workers were unable to attend. The convention was a huge success, and unions around the country started holding their own labor celebrations at the start of September, usually on the first Monday of the month. At the beginning, "it was a somewhat daring move to participate, because you could get yourself fired," Freedman said. But over time, states began to recognize the holiday, and it became more common for employers to give their employees the day off. It wasn't until June 28, 1894 that Congress passed an act naming the first day of September a legal holiday called Labor Day. Freeman says that earlier that year, President Grover Cleveland sent in the military to squash the Pullman railway strike. Cleveland pushed through legislation to recognize Labor Day just days after the strike ended, in a "gesture towards organized labor," Freeman said.
What Labor Day means? At the time Labor Day was formed, unions were fighting for "very specific improvements in their working conditions," Freeman said. Workers were fighting hard for the eight-hour work day most workers enjoy today. And Labor Day was an opportunity for them to come together to discuss their priorities -- and for the country to acknowledge the contributions workers make to society. But there was also a more radical political thread to the Labor Day celebration, Freeman says. The Knights of Labor were exploring the idea that "what we call the capitalist or industrial system was fundamentally exploitative," he said. "It introduced kind of inequities and inequalities, not just in wealth, but also in power. So they wanted a greater say in society for working people." "Back when Labor Day began, there were a lot of voices that were fundamentally challenging this emerging system," Freeman added. Labor leaders at the time advocated for alternatives to the "capitalist wage system," like collective ownership of corporations or socialism.
