Labor Day history is deeper than BBQs and shopping sales

Put down your delicious, grilled food for a moment and answer the following question:
What is Labor Day?
As it’s known today, of course, it’s just a day off work and it’s another major shopping holiday.
An article published Sept. 5 on The Atlantic’s website, however, goes into the history and points out some of the irony of how the beloved three-day weekend came from groups and events that now cause outrage in some political and societal circles.
“Labor Day began not as a national holiday but in the streets, when, on September 5, 1882, thousands of bricklayers, printers, blacksmiths, railroad men, and cigar makers took a day off and marched in New York City,” as reported in The Atlantic.

• MORE: Read the full article

The march, involving about 20,000 working people, was to demand an eight-hour work day and other important labor law reforms. Among the more popular slogans, according to pro-union website Massachusetts AFL-CIO: “Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for Recreation.”
The movement was led by unionized workers. In the past several decades, union memberships have plummeted. In 1983, the first year for which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics had comparable union data available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent.
As of 2014, it was about half that, at 11.1 percent.
Now taken for granted as the opportune time to squeeze the last drops out of summer, Sept. 5 was once considered unpatriotic. The Atlantic references a book called “Labor's Story in the United States” in which president of the National Association of Manufacturers called the trade union movement, “an un-American, illegal, and infamous conspiracy.”
The Atlantic also notes that some retailers such as CostCo stay closed on Sept. 5 so employees can spend time with family and at barbecues like many others in the workforce.
What do you think? Does the origin of Labor Day change how to you see the holiday? Let us know in the comments below.