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  3. The History of Labor Day Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means "Labor Day differs in every essential way from th

The History of Labor Day Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means "Labor Day differs in every essential way from th

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问题                        The History of Labor Day
    Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
    "Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man’s power over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."
    Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
    Founder of Labor Day
    More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers. Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold." But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
    The First Labor Day
    The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883. In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen’s holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
    Labor Day Legislation
    Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states--Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
    A Nationwide Holiday
    The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday—a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
    The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
    Children and teenagers--A Major Victim to Employers’ Exploitations.
    Despite all the brouhaha(喧闹) the labor market is still common in instances of exploitation of unorganized laborers, especially the children and teenagers. True that the Fair Labor Standards Act(FLSA), 1938, provides for a minimum wage and overtime pay and places strict limits on child labor. True, President Clinton has proposed to raise the minimum wage for this underprivileged(下层社会) to ＄6.15 per hour soon. Yet despite this raise the payment would work out to be far less than the monthly average hourly wage for production workers. It is also hard fact every year several hundred thousand unrepresented American employees are discharged without proper causes. Despite the social and political power enjoyed by the labor organizations Job security has turned out to be a pass6. In fact as the American labor movement crosses the second century it is confronted with more challenges than cheers.
    Trend
    The American labor movement has historically derived its organizational strength from the Northern blue-collar workers. Today things have changed drastically. As the US continues its transformation into a post-industrial society with knowledge-edge the job as well as the labor profile has changed quite a lot. Keeping pace with these changes the number of white collar and service positions has increased while the number of blue collar production jobs has shrunk sizably. Acc6rdingly, the condition of the organized labor force in the US has improved compared to that of their brethren(同胞) some hundred years ago. The government extends newer benefits to help American workers acquire the skills and get the information they need to succeed in the 21st Century. Recently Vice President A1 Gore announced a new website, www.workers.gov, that connects workers and their families to government services and information.
    The galloping pace with which this unorganized labor force is growing has become a cause of concern. Unions now represent about 13 per cent of the work force. Thanks to the changed psyche--the growing awareness of the possibilities for individual advancement and the tendency to dissociate one’s future from collective actions. Consequently, there has been an alarming fall in the membership of the labor unions over the recent past. This decline in union strength has deprived most workers of meaningful collective representation. However, if labor organizations become ineffective, many of the employees will exploit the situation. If there is no statutory minimum wage, many workers, especially those with little or no bargaining power would be subject to the whims of market and would be forced to accept earnings that are considered socially unacceptable. Finally in the absence of total labor movement the federal and the state legislators will be less inclined to support statutes protecting workers’ interests.
Labor Day is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.
选项 A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案A
解析 题目关键是要找到Labor Day的起因，可以从标题Labor Day：How it Came About；What it Means下的首段中找到。
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