Dick Meister: Labor Day began in San Francisco

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By Dick Meister

By some reckoning, this is the 117th Labor Day, since it was first observed as a national holiday in 1894. But the observation actually began a quarter-century earlier in San Francisco.

It was on Feb. 21, 1868. Brass bands blared, flags, banners and torch lights waved high as more than 3000 union members marched proudly through the city's downtown streets, led by shipyard workers and carpenters and men from dozens of other construction trades.

"A jollification," the marchers called their parade – the climax of a three-year campaign of strikes and other pressures that had culminated in the establishment of the eight-hour workday as a legal right in California.

New York unionists staged a similar parade in 1882 that is often erroneously cited as the first Labor Day parade, even though it occurred 14 years after the march in San Francisco.

Honors for holding the first official Labor Day are usually granted the state of Oregon, which proclaimed a Labor Day holiday in 1887 – seven years before the Federal Government got around to proclaiming the holiday that is now observed nationwide.

But Oregon's move came nearly a year after Gov. George Stoneman of California issued a proclamation setting aside May 11, 1886, as a legal holiday to honor a new organization of California unions – the year-old Iron Trades Council.

That, said renowned labor historian Ira. B. Cross of the University of California, was "the first legalized Labor Day in the United States.,

San Francisco also played a major role in that celebration of 1886. The city was the scene of the chief event – a march down Market Street by more than 10,000 men and women from some 40 unions, led by the uniformed rank-and-file of the Coast Seamen's Union. Gov. Stoneman and is entire staff marched right along with them.

The process was seven miles long, took more than two hours to pass any given point and generated enthusiasm that the San Francisco Examiner said was "entirely unprecedented – even in political campaigns."

Dick Meister, former labor editor of the SF Chronicle and KQED-TV Newsroom, has covered labor and politics for more than a half-century. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com, which includes more than 350 of his columns.

 

Comments

I don't tolerate censorship and I'm not posting on your board anymore. You just lost a friend.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 05, 2011 @ 12:16 pm

Could you explain, please.
dm

Posted by Dick Meister on Sep. 05, 2011 @ 3:11 pm

Sorry DM!! I was posting about falun gong that may have been a little off topic but dealt with the Chinese governments hostility to labor unions, which they view as political rivals. As an example of what they do to political rivals I posted links to shocking new developments regarding Falun Gong that occurred day before yesterday in Scotland.

This is a very hot political issue in SF because we have several Chinese mayoral candidates who refuse to talk about it.

It is truly horrific and the Chinese government has succeeded in painting it as a racial issue, the kiss of death around here for these PC morons.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 11:45 am

I find it ironic that SF was the first city to observe labor day, and now has several Chinese candidates to be the first Asian mayor of an American city, and none of them dares to talk about the murderous hostility and horrific tortures and executions unionists experience in China.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 11:50 am

I posted 3 posts about falun gong, all deleted.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 11:50 am

And I promised never to post here again, except once more to explain myself to you and tell you how much I admire your columns and your work.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 11:51 am

I think our comments system may have thought your comments were spam. Please fell free to repost. We do not censor anyone, although we do reserve the right to delete certain kinds of comments. You can see our full comment policy here: http://www.sfbg.com/privacy-policy

Posted by marke on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 11:54 am

Ok here's one link. I'll try to find another from a person who got a kidney transplant in China and said he was shown eight different kidneys before they found a match and supply of kidneys seemed to be no problem whatsoever, and his surgeon sometimes made his hospital rounds in a military uniform and when pressed admitted they used the organs of executed prisoners, but obtained written consent first.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Glasgow39s-twin-city-is-selling...

"Glasgow's twin city is selling living prisoners' organs to health tourists
Published Date: 05 September 2011
By Billy Briggs

HOSPITALS in Glasgow's twin city in China sell organs taken illegally from innocent people executed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), campaigners claimed last night.
Ahead of an international conference today in Glasgow about organ harvesting, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee said the illegal practice is rife in Dalian, a city in north east China with which Scotland's largest city has been twinned since 1987.

Delegates attending the event - hosted by Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) - will hear claims the Chinese regime removes organs from prisoners who are still alive and that wealthy "health tourists" travel to China to buy kidneys and livers available on the black market...."

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 12:11 pm

Another reason I mention this is the city in question, Dalian, is also Oakland's sister city.

Again, Oakland is a city with a Chinese mayor and also a city that doesn't get any trouble from Falun Gong.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 12:15 pm

Found the other link.

http://organharvestinvestigation.net/report0701/report20070131.htm#_Toc1...

"When we were in Asia promoting our report, we met a man who in 2003 flew to Shanghai to obtain a new kidney for the $20,000 USD price negotiated before his departure. He was admitted to the No 1 Peoples' Hospital‑a civilian facility‑and during the ensuing two weeks four kidneys were brought for testing against his blood and other factors. None proved compatible because of his anti‑bodies; all were taken away.

He subsequently went to his home country, returning to the hospital about two months later. Another four kidneys were similarly tested; when the eighth proved compatible, the transplant operation was successfully completed. His eight days of convalescence was done at No 85 hospital of the Peoples' Liberation Army. His surgeon was Dr. Tan Jianming of the Nanjing military region, who wore his army uniform at times in the civilian hospital.

Tan carried sheets of paper containing lists of prospective "donors”, based on various tissue and blood characteristics, from which he would select names. The doctor was observed at various times to leave the hospital in uniform and return 2‑3 hours later with containers bearing kidneys. Dr. Tan told the recipient that the eighth kidney came from an executed prisoner.

The military have access to prisons and prisoners. Their operations are even more secretive than those of the civilian government. They are impervious to the rule of law."

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 12:51 pm

Hey Guest,

You're correct of course. Marke B. particularly loves the spam filter. When he took over handling the online posts he wrote that he was looking forward to censoring my posts. My sin? I commented that I thought they were wasting this valuable Progressive resource publishing endless stories and pictures of people who are not now and never have been Progressives. Gavin Newsom. David Chiu. And now, Leland Yee. You can call them names all you want as the trolls do but don't question their editorial policy. That's obscene.

Keep in mind that Chris Daly's resolution condemning the imprisonment, torture and murder of the Falun Gong passed 9-2 with only Aaron Peskin and Jake McGoldrick (locked in arms on the Grandstand overlooking the Chinese New Year's Parade with Rose Pak) ... only Peskin and McGoldrick voted against the Falun Gong. McGoldrick called the people being butchered, "terrorists".

Adachi for Mayor!

Baum for Mayor!

Avalos for Mayor!

Hall for Mayor!

Giants for greatest comeback ever!

h.

Posted by h. brown on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 1:04 pm

Oh and by the way, Shanghai is San Francisco's sister city.

""When we were in Asia promoting our report, we met a man who in 2003 flew to Shanghai to obtain a new kidney for the $20,000 USD price negotiated before his departure. "

-- Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of
Falun Gong Practitioners in China, David Matas, Esq.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 06, 2011 @ 2:10 pm

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