Working Families Take Back Labor Day as Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert J. Haynes to throw out first pitch at Red Sox Labor Day game

For the 2nd year in a row, the Boston Red Sox will have the Commonwealth's leader of working families in their "rotation" as Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert J. Haynes will throw out the first pitch at the September 1st Labor Day game, when the Red Sox take on the Baltimore Orioles.

The newest labor holiday tradition began last year when Haynes threw out the first pitch in the 13-10 Labor Day victory for the Red Sox against the Toronto Blue Jays. Haynes is looking forward to hitting the mound once again as the representative of working families across the Commonwealth. The event is the highlight of the second year of the organization's "Take Back Labor Day" campaign which the state AFL-CIO has been vigorously waging since 2007.

This year's Take Back Labor Day campaign includes a focus on turning around America through supporting candidates who will put working families first in the November election.

"There are few things more purely American than baseball and the Labor Movement, and what a great venue to remind people of the important contributions that labor has made to our society," said Haynes. The Massachusetts AFL-CIO has been advertising to Red Sox fans on the radio immediately before nearly every game broadcast with its "First Pitch" 60-second advertisement campaign featuring the state AFL-CIO and six local union affiliates. In the weeks leading up to and after Labor Day, the state's largest labor organization began airing a stepped up public education campaign about what Labor Day is and what the Labor Movement has meant for this country.

In addition to the ceremonial first pitch, union members will be present in impressive numbers at the game. Also as part of the new tradition Haynes will once again be a special guest during the 2nd or 3rd inning of the live, in-game, in-studio interview with Red Sox announcers, talking about the significance of the day's events.

Reclaiming Labor Day

"Labor Day came into being when working people marched in the streets to demand better working conditions. While many people today consider it to only signify one last opportunity to partake in a barbeque, the reality is, Labor Day should mean more now than ever before", said Haynes. He added, "It should be a time for us to recommit ourselves to the struggle for basic rights for American workers such as the right to join a union free of fear or intimidation. This year, the Labor Movement is calling for Congress and our new President to pass the Employee Free Choice Act; and put the needs of the working men and women who create the wealth in this country before the profits of big business."

Labor Day History

The first Labor Day observance occurred in New York City on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. On that day, 20,000 working people marched in New York City to demand an eight-hour work day and other important labor law reforms. With a quarter-million New Yorkers watching, the marchers paraded up Broadway, carrying signs reading, "Labor Creates All Wealth" and "Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for Recreation." The event was organized by the Central Labor Union of New York.

The following year marked another Labor Day holiday in New York. In 1884, the Central Labor Union decided to make the first Monday in September the official "workingmen's holiday" and encouraged similar organizations in other cities to begin celebrating the holiday on that date. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, which would later become the AFL, called for workers across the country to celebrate Labor Day, not just those who could make it to New York. In 1885, many industrial centers in the country celebrated. Over the next couple of years, municipal ordinances in many cities were passed concerning Labor Day, and the importance of the holiday became increasingly emphasized.

A movement soon occurred to secure state legislation. New York State filed the first bill, but the first state to make it a law was Oregon, on February 21, 1887. Legislative enactments in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York created the Labor Day holiday shortly after Oregon. Within ten years, Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania also joined in with Labor Day laws. In 1893, workers in New York City took an unpaid day-off to march around Union Square in support of a national Labor Day. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday.

Labor Day was officially signed into law as a federal holiday by Grover Cleveland in 1894. Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were both vocal supporters of organized labor.