How Labor Day became Government Day

When the American Federation of Labor pushed to make Labor Day a national holiday in 1894, it promoted the occasion as a celebration of 'all wage workers,' not merely union members. More than a century later, however, the labor movement has been hijacked by government unions whose political agenda puts public-sector pay and job security ahead of private-sector job creation and economic growth. This Labor Day, we should celebrate the working people the holiday was created to honor. We should also recognize that allowing government employees to unionize was a policy mistake that should be reversed. The fight over data centers illustrates the divide. Digital infrastructure is generating billions of dollars in private investment, thousands of high-paying construction jobs, new tax revenue, and demand for electricians, pipefitters, laborers, and other skilled trades. North America's Building Trades Unions struck an agreement to build OpenAI's Michigan Stargate campus with more than 2,500 tradespeople and apprentices. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers locals, Laborers' International Union of North America, steamfitters, ironworkers, painters, and other private-sector unions have fought data center moratoriums because their members' livelihoods depend on the work. Advertisement