Today in Labor History

February 21  --  Union Communications Services, Inc.

A state law was enacted in California providing the 8-hour day for most workers, but it was not effectively enforced - 1868

Transportation-Communication Employees Union merges with Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express & Station Employees - 1969

United Farm Workers of America granted a charter by the AFL-CIO - 1972

Oregon becomes 1st U.S. state to make Labor Day a holiday 1887. ~De

Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday on February 21, 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday; President Grover Cleveland signed it into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers' Day. All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day

Photo of a 1911 labor day parade in Medford, OR.