Test your knowledge of labor history, statistics and annoying office workers
by Lisa Davis, Anniston Star
Photo: Library of Congress, prints and photographs division, Detroit Publishing Company
These days, Labor Day is known as the last gasp of summer, a day for grilling, swimming and road-tripping. But it was not always so.
The first Labor Day celebration was in 1882, when several thousand union members took a day off — without pay, mind you — and marched through the streets of New York City in celebration of the working man and of trade and labor organizations.
The first Monday in September became a federal holiday in 1894, signed into law by President Grover Cleveland — albeit reluctantly. A week earlier, Cleveland had sent federal troops to break up the Pullman strike, with bloody results. He hoped to reconcile himself to the working man with the Labor Day bill. It didn't work. He was voted out of office next term.
Here, then, is a quiz on labor past and present:
1. How many workers marched in the first Labor Day parade, around Union Square in New York City?
a. 5,000
b. 10,000
c. 15,000
d. 20,000
2. The first Labor Day parade was on Sept. 5, 1882. What day of the week was that?
a. Monday
b. Tuesday
c. Friday
d. Saturday
3. Which company made headlines last year after negotiating — and quickly renegotiating — a union contract substituting a Muslim holiday for Labor Day?
a. Tyson Foods
b. Wal-Mart
c. Target
d. Starbucks
4. Other countries hold their labor celebrations on May Day, in memory of the Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago. What day is May Day celebrated?
a. May 30
b. May 15
c. May 10
d. May 1
5. What color shoes aren't you supposed to wear after Labor Day?
a. red
b. white
c. blue
d. purple
6. How many adults are there in the U.S. labor force today?
a. 215 million
b. 174 million
c. 155 million
d. 136 million
7. This will be the first Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon in how many years without anchor Ed McMahon, who passed away in June?
a. 40
b. 41
c. 42
d. 43
8. In the early days of labor unions, how much did the average American work?
a. 8 hours a day, five days a week
b. 8 hours a day, seven days a week
c. 12 hours a day, five days a week
d. 12 hours a day, seven days a week
9. In the 1950s, at the heydey of the labor movement, what percentage of the workforce belonged to unions?
a. 30 percent
b. 40 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 60 percent
10. What's the percentage today?
a. 25 percent
b. 18 percent
c. 12 percent
d. 9 percent
11. Of these states, which has the highest rate of union membership?
a. Alabama
b. New Mexico
c. North Carolina
d. Hawaii
12. How many pregnant women endure labor pains each year in the U.S.?
a. 2 million
b. 4 million
c. 5 million
d. 6 million
13. Which president established the Department of Labor in 1913, "to foster, promote and develop the welfare of working people"?
a. William Howard Taft
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
d. Grover Cleveland
14. Which of these women has not served as Secretary of Labor?
a. Frances Perkins
b. Elizabeth Dole
c. Elaine Chao
d. Ann Veneman
15. Which of the following sitcom personnel would you want to work with?
a. Ted Baxter, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
b. Les Nessman, WKRP in Cincinnati
c. Michael Scott, The Office
d. George Costanza, Seinfeld
The answers: 1. b. 10,000. 2. b. Tuesday. 3. a. Tyson Foods. 4. d. May 1. 5. b. white. And is there ever an appropriate time to wear purple shoes? 6. c. 155 million. 7. c. 42. 8. d. 12 hours a day, seven days a week. 9. c. 50 percent. 10. c. 12 percent. 11. d. Hawaii. 12. b. 4 million. 13. a. William Howard Taft. He signed the bill reluctantly, just hours before leaving office. 14. d. Ann Veneman. 15. None of the above. We'll take Pam from The Office.
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