Did you know that Labor Day has been an official public holiday since 1894 — with Oregon being the first adopter, in 1887?

That makes this the 131st Labor Day, at least as a nation.

People think of many things around Labor Day — the first days of school and the end of summer being two prominent ones.

But we think that the original intent of the holiday — as a day to honor workers and recognize American labor movements — is perhaps too understated these days.

Consider, as columnist Salena Zito does in today’s edition of The Express, the steelworkers in Clairton.

Or perhaps you would like to reflect on the region’s rich coal mining history — and the history of danger, exploitation and loss that came with it.

As with the steelworkers in Clairton and the coal miners in the Coal Region in northeast Pennsylvania, places tend to take on aspects of the industries that define them.

We have written previously on this subject with regards to Lock Haven’s deep connection to Piper Aircraft.

While we aren’t going to go so far as to say there are no good companies or some such, we do think that there is merit in remembering that a great many workers are neglected — and have historically been.

There are many companies, in today’s world as in the world of 1894, which view their employees are expendable…as nothing more than “numbers on a spreadsheet” — if you want to use a common modern parlance.

Most people, and their friends and relatives, have horror stories from their place of work. We say most, of course, because there are always the lucky few who find places of appreciation — and appropriate wages.

Labor Day exists as a monument to where we have been, and a stark warning of where we could return.

Recall the history of the company town — or, if you aren’t aware of it, here’s a quick crash course:

Company towns were common in Pennsylvania mining communities. They were societies built around an industry, where that particular company owned not only the town’s industry, but also the houses the workers and their families lived in, as well as all of the stores in town. Contemporarily, it would be like if First Quality owned all of the housing in Lock Haven, as well as the Weis grocery store, all of the fast food joints and the downtown businesses.

Wanted to eat? You have to pay the company you work for to do so. Some new clothes? Same deal. Rent? Utilities? It all funnels back to the parent company. Oh, and you weren’t paid in actual money. Most of your compensation was in scrip — credit issued by the company that was valid at, you guessed it, company stores.

That is a part of the world that Labor Day was born into, and it’s something that can be a little hard for our brains to wrap around today.

Obviously, this is a complicated subject with countless histories of many diverse regions, companies and industries all figuring into it. Some company towns were operated quite well by the standards of the time, and the concept of the exploitative, monopolizing company/owner that remains in today’s gestalt isn’t necessarily the whole picture.

Regardless, it was out of that background that Labor Day arose — as well as the unions that pushed it.

It’s not uncommon these days to hear mixed opinions about unions.

Labor unions hold a 70% approval rating according to Gallup polling in 2024. And while the days of unionists dragging bosses out of their houses in the middle of the night may be gone, so, too, have many unions seen their power dwindle.

At the same time, there are certainly many powerful unions that still exist and wield substantial influence, such as teaching and policing — and, of course, the various Hollywood unions that protect the different groups of talent, crew, writers and so forth.

Ultimately, like most things, unions are at their best when they represent firm, unyielding moderation. It is vitally important that workers are cared for, work in good conditions, be paid a good wage and generally enabled to live good lives while contributing to the success of the company — and community — in which they are embedded. However, if the union grows too demanding, it can constrict a company — or tax base — to the point of not being sustainable.

By the same token, of course, it is hard to say that many of today’s most notable companies — some of whom, like Amazon and Walmart, are well-known for their union-busting activities — are in any particular danger of going out of business.

Many workers do not begrudge the success of a company’s owners — but at some point it becomes gratuitous, especially when the workers and their families are struggling despite “doing everything right” according to the rules of the society they live in.

Regardless, remember these issues during your various relaxations and celebrations this holiday weekend. It is a fascinating history, well worth reading into, and continues to have reverberations and ramifications today.