Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: Labor Day

Episode Date: October 31, 2018

Labor Day, the day when most people in America paradoxically take off work, is actually rooted in some deeply radical and anarchistic thinking. Learn all about this most subversive of American holidays in this episode of Short Stuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called, David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're gonna use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s.

We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, and welcome to the shorty. I'm Josh, there's Chuck and Jerry's over there. So that makes this stuff you should know, shorties.

Welcome to the shorty, I like that. I'm trying to switch things up because these are a little different, you know? Sure. They're their own thing, Chuck. Yeah, we decided that we needed a signal to people that this was different, and we decided against a three-minute-long eeee.

I suggested a series of blinks, but after a little while, we figured out that wasn't gonna work. Well, I see you're wearing white, and that's because it's not yet Labor Day, and then it's acceptable still. Is that still a thing? Was it ever?

I think so, yeah. I think that Gangs of Angry people would beat you senseless if they saw you wearing white after Labor Day. Gangs of Angry boaters and country clubbers? Mm-hmm. Yeah, maybe. Clutching their pearls. We're talking Labor Day.

Yeah, we are talking Labor Day, and a lot of people kind of look at Labor Day and say, that's a weird name for a day off to go have a picnic before we have to go back to school or something. Sure. And that is a pretty appropriate thought if you think about it, because it really doesn't have anything to do with labor.

It's a day off, which is something, but it's not a day off for everybody. It just seems insensible until you start to know the origins of Labor Day. And then you say, oh, it came out of the labor unions, hence the name Labor Day. Let's get back to that. Yeah, exactly.

As far as national holidays in the US and Canada, it's been around since about 18, well, since exactly 1894. And it was, like you said, labor unions. They don't know exactly who started this tradition, but I think scholars generally say one of two people both involved in labor unions probably did so. Yeah, one was Peter McGuire

and the other one was Matthew McGuire. The McGuire's. Two different spellings. But I saw somewhere that Matthew McGuire was much more radical and that Peter McGuire was much more centrist. He was the chill one. So he was the one that gets,

he got the official credit over time, but it may have actually really been Matthew McGuire. He was just overlooked because he was like, let's have some labor party rallies and maybe we'll throw some bombs or something, possibly. So Peter McGuire with a C, he was the general secretary of the, and I love this, the brotherhood of carpenters and joiners.

And I guess they mean joiner is a woodworking joiner. No, I think they mean like people who like to join clubs. Oh, really? No. Oh, okay. I'm sure it's gotta be, right? Because it follows carpenters. But I mean, yeah, I guess that's what that means.

Nothing like a dovetail joint. Right, that's what it is. That really gets my blood flowing. But shouldn't it be jointers? I don't know. I bet you someone will have some good information on this. Like a joiner was a former name for a carpenter or something. Right, but well, so Peter McGuire's claim to fame,

other claim to fame was that he co-founded the AFL. What? Yeah, the American Federation of Labor. Oh, I thought you meant the American Football League. No, who was that? Well, I don't know. Okay, so whoever came up with the idea, it's Murky, but we actually do know the first Labor Day

that was September 5th, 1882, and it took place in New York. And it was like a real deal Labor Day thing. Yeah, they're a parade. Yeah, and the whole reason behind the first Labor Day parade was like at the time, if you worked, you worked in a factory most likely, and you worked anywhere between 12 and 10 to 12 to 14 hour days, seven days a week.

And so these labor unions were starting to organize, but they were pretty good at organizing people in their trade, but they weren't coming together to really join their strengths. And so whoever's idea this was to have this first Labor Day parade, the basis of it was get all these different people from different unions together, and so they can see that they have all this stuff in common,

and then maybe we can really become like a strong political force and we can agitate for like a five day work week and eight hour work days. And they were successful, but it came out of this first parade that they had. Yeah, they were like, hey, we get off Thanksgiving, Christmas and the 4th of July. How about one extra day off?

Yeah, and for this first Labor Day and for other ones too, they were like, well, no, you can't have the day off. So it was a general strike is how they took the day off. Yeah, so Inter-President Cleveland, Mr. Grover Cleveland, and he has an interesting background because he was not a union supporter, but everyone thinks when he signed the law

saying the first Monday in September shall be Labor Day. It's a great Cleveland. Nationwide, well, I grew up mustache or shaved the beard, especially for that, as you can tell. Pretty good, Chuck. But most people think that even though he wasn't a union supporter, he was trying to sort of put himself in a better light

because of some political damage earlier that year. He sent federal troops in to put down a strike, and this was, I mean, I know we covered some of this in the long unions episode, but a lot of times these strikes became bloody battles and riots, and a strike by the American Railway Union at the Pullman Company in Chicago did just that and 34 workers died.

So they think Cleveland was like, all right, you're gonna have a day off. I saw both things. I saw that Cleveland saw this as politically healing, it was like a bone he was tossing to the unions and to labor in general. I also saw that Congress had a bill going in circulation years before this happened,

and that Cleveland just happened to be the president who was sitting at the time, and so he was the one who signed it, and really it wasn't any political tool at all. So I saw both, but either way, it did come on the heels of that for sure, and that was a big deal, that strike. I was looking into it, Chuck,

and there was like the whole thing started because some workers from the Pullman Company, Pullman made railroad cars at the time, like really popular ones, like the good ones. Like the Pullman Yard here in Atlanta. Right, right, so they went to the head of the company, I think either George or Charles Pullman, and said, hey, we wanna work fewer hours,

we think we're working too much for too little pay, and he said, oh, that's great, I'll take that into consideration. And like in true Montgomery Burns fashion, he fired the people for even asking, and so that started this whole strike that ended up, like you said, it was bloody, there were riots, there were overturning railroad cars,

overturning railroad cars. Do you know how hard that would be? I imagine there was rope involved. I would hope so. And horses. Yeah, in the Incredible Hulk. Should we take a little quick break? Yeah, I'm a little worked up.

All right, we're gonna take a quickie, everybody, and we will come back and finish up about Labor Day right after this. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called, David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses

and choker necklaces. We're gonna use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and non-stop references to the best decade ever.

Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting Frosted Tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper,

because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to, Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough, or you're at the end of the road. Ah, okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself,

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because I'll be there for you. Oh man. And so, my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yep, we know that, Michael. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life, step by step. Oh, not another one.

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or wherever you listen to podcasts. All right, so, what's Labor Day like around the world, Josh? It has other names in different parts of the world. Is that right? Yeah, and it takes place at different times. Like May Day, May 1st is known internationally as like the day of workers. Basically, what Labor Day was originally to America.

May Day is to the rest of the world, especially Europe and China and some other places. And it's been definitely co-opted as a kind of a communist day too. Interesting. Yeah, which is another reason why we don't really tend to celebrate. May Day, we celebrate Labor Day

in a totally different part of the year. Nothing to do with communism. Yeah, and I actually looked up the origins of this whole white after Labor Day. And our old buddies at Mental Floss, and new buddies here at work, Will and Mangech, I don't know if they wrote this one, but apparently that came in the 1880s or so,

post-Civil War when new money started happening. And apparently the old money people were like, geez, there's more rich people now than ever. And we can't distinguish between the rich folks. So I'm an old blue blood and this guy just made his money and I don't know, whatever they were making back then that could make you rich. Chewing gum.

Radio knobs. Radio knobs, he's got new money. So they felt the need, the old blue bloods, to design a bunch of silly fashion rules and society rules that I don't know if only they would know about it. Yeah, just to entrap people. Maybe, but as a way to distinguish old money and true rich people from these vulgar new rich people.

And apparently not wearing white outside of summer was just one of those rules. That was, those were the very people who would beat you senseless if they caught you wearing white. That was the other part of it too. Not just feeling foolish, but feeling vulnerable. Tremendous pain as well.

But they do confirm that these days it's not a big deal. I think it's just kind of become more of a joke now when someone says you don't wear white after Labor Day. I see, he's just laugh and laugh at the joke. But as far as unions go, the US now obviously is way down as far as union membership in the 1950s. And this is pretty remarkable if you ask me.

About 40% of the workforce in America belong to a union. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah, they got things done back then too. What are you saying? I think you know. And now I believe, and I'm not sure when this was written, but it's probably roughly the same, but about 14%. I saw 11% in 2013.

Oh, even lower. Which I mean, would definitely go on to explain why Labor Day's really lost its meaning too, you know? Well, now I think people know it as just that sort of last blast. Even though kids start school way early now, it used to be sort of around that time when you would head back to school and stuff.

Yeah, I was thinking about that. It made me nostalgic for when I was in school, like seeing like, oh yeah, Labor Day, right after that, you would go back to school. And now it's like, no, I've been in school for a full month now. Yeah, I mean, I remember having like all of June, July, and August off for sure.

I know. And now these kids are back in school in August. It's weird. Chumps. But they do get a very quick break with Labor Day at least. No, I know, they definitely have some pretty killer breaks that we didn't have for sure. They get all the breaks.

Well, that's it, huh? That's one in the can. If you happen to be listening to this on Labor Day, pat yourself on the back, because you just created an S-Y-S-K trifecta. Have a genitonic on me. Oh, that's nice, Chuck. And put on something white

just to stick it in the eye of those bluebluts. Yeah. If you want to get in touch with us, you can go to our website, stuffyoushouldknow.com. It's got all of our social media links. You can also send us an email. Pay attention. You should address it directly to Stuff Podcast

at howstuffworks.com. [♪ upbeat music playing On the podcast, HeyDude, the 90s called, David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show HeyDude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're gonna use HeyDude as our jumping off point,

but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to HeyDude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass.

Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place, because I'm here to help. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody, about my new podcast, and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye.

Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.