For Over 125 years Labor Day has Been our HolidayLaborDayisobservedonthefirstMondayinSeptember,andpaystributesto both the contributions and achievements of everyday working families.ThefirstLaborDayholidaywascelebratedonTuesday,September5,1882,in NewYorkCity.Followingthedeathsof13workersduringthePullmanStrikein Juneof1894,PresidentGroverClevelandputreconciliationwiththelabor movementasatoppoliticalpriorityandLaborDaybecameafederalholiday.and grew to become a federal holiday in 1894.Strikers in ChicagoDuringthemajoreconomicdepressionoftheearly1890s,thePullmanPalace CarCompanycutwagesinitsfactories.Discontentedworkersjoinedthe AmericanRailwayUnion(ARU),ledbyEugeneV.Debs,whichsupportedtheir strikebylaunchingaboycottofallPullmancarsonallrailroads.ARUmembers acrossthenationrefusedtoswitchPullmancarsontotrains.Whenthese switchmenweredisciplined,theentireARUstrucktherailroadsonJune26, 1894.Withinfourdays,125,000workersontwenty-ninerailroadshadquitwork rather than handle Pullman cars.ThestrikewasbrokenupbyUnitedStatesMarshalsandsome2,000United StatesArmytroops,sentinbyPresidentGroverClevelandonthepremisethat thestrikeinterferedwiththedeliveryofU.S.Mail.Duringthestrike,13 workers were killed and 57 were wounded.