Posts for 'Labor Day' Category

FOURTEEN projects will receive national focus for this year's National Labour Day, which will be observed on May 24 under the theme 'Our children... Show them we care'. Speaking at a National Labour Day Planning Committee meeting at Jamaica House on Wednesday, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Olivia Grange said the decision to increase the number of projects came out of a commitment the Planning Committee made last year.

"We are now going to focus on a national parish project. In other words, each parish will have a main project that will be treated as part of the national programme," Minister Grange said. She pointed out that last year the number of national projects had increased to six by the Labour Day Secretariat in the ministry.

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Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor summed up this holiday's importance with these words: "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day... is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement in America at a time when labor was not valued and not honored. Sweathouses were prevalent and workers were often mistreated and devalued. Unions were formed to protect workers and out of these unions came the call for a day dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. They called for one day a year in tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength and prosperity of their country.

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