It’s Labor Day weekend, and to me, it’s always been an interesting holiday — sort of nondescript. 

By that I mean, there aren’t any real rules to it. Not a ton of pageantry or specific symbols or traditions tied to it. Labor Day doesn’t get associated with certain colors, sounds or any particular rhetoric — save the old admonition to not wear white after the day has passed. 

What we typically think about on Labor Day is one last chance for us to throw some meat on the grill and relish in the fact that it’s still technically summer time. In that sense, Labor Day is seen as sort of a gateway to autumn. 

When I was growing up, Labor Day signaled my last free weekend before going back to school. Of course that isn’t really the case now since school’s back in session typically around the first couple of weeks in August, and in some places, as early as the last week in July. 

But it’s so much more than that. Or at least it should be. 

The origins of Labor Day can be traced to as early as the late 19th century. It was originally set aside as a day to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of American workers — particularly of the blue collar variety — and the impact they made to America’s progress. 

An organization called the Central Labor Union helped coordinate the first Labor Day celebration on Tuesday September 5, 1882 in New York City. By 1894, then-President Grover Cleveland signed a law making Labor Day a national holiday to be observed on the first Monday in September. 

Before becoming a federal holiday, it was still a widely celebrated day among individual states and labor activists — almost seen as a widespread “labor strike” to promote the importance of America’s working class and the need for it to receive the utmost in fair treatment. 

Yes, even then there were picnics, barbecues and an assortment of celebratory activities to add fun and flare to the day. But at the crux of it were speeches, rallies and activities designed to remind Americans that hard work is part of what has made America the nation it is, and that those who worked hard deserved fair treatment, fair pay and opportunities to rest. 

Back in the 1830s, 70-and 80-plus hour work weeks weren’t uncommon. But remember, those folks in the 1830s weren’t working in plush, air conditioned offices. Many were factory workers toiling in borderline inhumane conditions, working seven days a week. The Labor Day holiday was instrumental in helping cut back those hours and shorten the traditional work week to six, and later five, days. 

Originally, Labor Day was about making sure workers were treated fairly, celebrated and appreciated. My fear is that we’ve lost the true meaning of the day when we probably need more reminders of the need for proper treatment of the workforce. 

In a recent report from The Covington News, we told you that Newton County’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in July, but that same report tells us that fewer residents are being employed or are in the market for employment. While some say we’re on the brink of a recession and others say a recession is already in progress, some point to numbers like the aforementioned unemployment report to say that recession talk is much ado about nothing. 

According to an August 25 article from the Associated Press, U.S. government officials reported an economy shrinkage for two straight quarters. That article goes on to note that “a long-held informal definition of a recession” is “six months of economic contraction.” 

But the COVID-19 pandemic is still mucking up traditional economic markers. Jobs are still being added at a pretty solid clip. National and local unemployment rates are still dropping. But if you talk to local business owners, you’ll hear a similar refrain: “Good help is hard to find.” 

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I had a brief conversation with a couple of workers to that end earlier in the week right here in Newton County. It began with them thanking my wife and me for our patience as they worked to resolve a matter. We responded by saying we understand that it’s still a tough time for many businesses that still find themselves understaffed in the pandemic’s aftermath. 

One worker confirmed that reality by acknowledging that getting people to commit to working has been harder than normal since everything went haywire back in March 2020. Many businesses have tried everything from increasing wages to providing benefits and perks not normally given. Not much has worked, as many workers have taken the pandemic as a time to take a break from the workforce for one reason or another.

I get both sides of it. 

I believe the pandemic taught us some hearty lessons about work-life balance — that we could still accomplish a good bit without being chained to our office chairs and desks for 40-plus hours a week. That it is easy, even in a nation like ours, to take blue collar workers and support personnel for granted, both in terms of how much time workers spend on the job and the level of compensation they receive. 

But on the other hand, I also understand the employer’s side of things. While pandemic life has helped some employees find a healthier balance between work, play and family, I believe it’s also made others lazy. It seems many have forgotten that work isn’t always supposed to be easy or convenient, and that most anything we put our hands to that’s worth something is going to involve some sweat equity. 

Remember, original Labor Day enthusiasts weren’t necessarily petitioning for laziness, rather fair treatment. They weren’t striking because they didn’t want to work. They were striking because they didn’t want their work or themselves to be mistreated and taken advantage of. They still understood that hard, smart work was the hallmark to success.

As I’ve taken time this week to consider the origins of Labor Day, I can’t help but to think back to my father who passed away in June 2020 at 87 years old. 

A Black man born and raised in Tupelo, Mississippi during the tail end of the Jim Crow era, my father had plenty of stories to tell of the hardships he experienced growing up in the Deep South. But one thing I respected most about my father was the respect he had for hard work despite those conditions. 

The second oldest of nine children, he dropped out of school before finishing eighth grade so he could help my grandparents tend the farm. As he got older and job prospects in Mississippi began to dry up for him, he and several of his siblings dispersed to find better opportunities. 

One of my dad’s brothers — the last living sibling — took his meager earnings and relocated to Los Angeles, California. He worked his way from poverty to earn a doctorate degree at the University of Southern California while also becoming an educator, author and philanthropist. At one point, he established a scholarship fund in our family’s name to entice young students to pursue higher education, no matter the obstacles before them. 

My father and another of his brothers migrated to East St. Louis, Illinois for a time before settling in my native Omaha, Nebraska. Whenever I’d ask him how he got there, he always told me that it was the Midwest meatpacking plants that brought him and a lot of African Americans to the area for jobs. 

Though my father remained a blue collar worker all his life and never got the chance to finish his formal education, he was by no means a dumb man. He and my mother both instilled in me the virtues and necessities of hard, smart work. But he also made sure to remind me that just because one must work to eat and live doesn’t mean that person has to be subject to mistreatment on the job. 

Perhaps this Labor Day, while we are in a different time and place than those who founded the holiday in the late 1800s, we can still take a pause to remember why this day should be bigger than just grilled meats and one more chance to hit the beach before the end-of-the-year chill sets in. 

In the true spirit of Labor Day, do something nice for a hard worker you know. Treat those you encounter in understaffed businesses with more patience and respect. Encourage hard and smart work along with fair treatment of employees whenever and however you can. And above all, may we remember and try to embody this quote from Booker T. Washington that says, “Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having except as a result of hard work.” 

On this Labor Day, let’s recommit ourselves to doing the hard work both of being excellent at tasks and treating those who do them well. 

Gabriel Stovall is the publisher and editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at gstovall@covnews.com or @GabrielCStovall on Twitter and Instagram.