Dear E-Myth Reader,
The E-Myth Insider this week discusses origins and practices of Labor Day in America. This US national holiday has its roots in the early labor union movement in New York City.
We also invite you to participate in our 5-minute Global Small Business Profile survey. We will share the survey results next month in this newsletter, so stay tuned and please participate.
We know that business owners often face challenges while managing their employees. Read about implementing systems to ease employee management in the E-Myth article On Management.
Here too is a link to the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy site. See this FAQ page for answers to questions like 'How important are small businesses to the US economy?' and 'What's the survival rate for new firms?'
And there are interesting results in the National Small Business Association's 2007 Survey of Small and Mid-sized Businesses. We built our Global Small Business Profile survey with additional focus on usage of new technologies.
Labor Day in America
Honoring those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold"
The first Labor Day holiday in America was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. Ten thousand workers marched from City Hall to Union Square, then gathered with their families in Reservoir Park for a picnic, concert and speeches. The plans were outlined in the Central Labor Union's 'Labor Day proposal'.
Some records show that carpenter Peter J. McGuire first suggested the holiday, but other research suggests that machinist Matthew Maguire first proposed the holiday while serving in New York as secretary of the Central Labor Union.
Matthew Maguire proposed the idea at a labor meeting in early 1882, suggesting a September date to provide a break during the long stretch between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. The idea of a "workingmen's holiday" spread with the growth of labor organizations, and by 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many American industrial centers. In 1887 a handful of states officially recognized the Labor Day holiday, and in 1894 the US Congress made the first Monday in September a legal holiday.
According to fashion tradition, white shouldn't be worn after Labor Day, though the original etiquette held that white shoes were taboo, and that 'winter white' clothing was acceptable. Similarly, tradition says that straw hats should be worn only from Memorial Day until Labor Day, and only felt hats worn in colder months. These American fashion dictums parallel the Canadian fashion rule against wearing green after Remembrance Day, 11 November each year.
Labor Day resources
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Labor_Day.shtml
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day
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Yours Truly,
The E-Myth Team
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