On this day we reflect and celebrate the American Worker. Here is a little info about the holiday and its origins.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day
Haymarket Affair;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair
Pullman Strike;
http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1029.html
Lawrence Textile;
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAlawrence.htm
Mine Wars;
http://www.wvculture.org/history/minewars.html
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5737/
Homestead Riot;
https://woodward8.wikispaces.com/Homestead+riot
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegi...mh_horror.html
As a kid growing up in the Youngstown area in the '60s and '70s, I knew some of the men involved in the Little Steel Strike of 1937, also known as the Memorial Day Massacre;
http://www.mahoninghistory.org/wdyk35-steel.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WV2q0k-uxU
http://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/...lic-steel.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoria...ssacre_of_1937
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q3RUGLfFv0
There is TONS of history on this subject. The labor movement was long and often violent. And
NO, it wasn't always "union sponsored violence", that is a distortion of history, foisted upon us by powerful interests with an agenda.
At any rate, I hope you find the links I've provided interesting and informative.
Dave