Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is an annual and national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of the country. The Labor Day holiday is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country. Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold." But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, l883. In l884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in l885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

Initial governmental recognition of the holiday would came through municipal ordinances. The first to become law was passed by Oregon in l887. By the end of the year four more state legislatures - Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York - had passed similar laws. In 1894, with 23 other states having had adopted the holiday, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday. Today, Labor Day is observed not only in the U.S. but also in Canada, and many other industrialized nations.