<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1nFIwU_1EsHFQrG00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1nFIwU_1EsHFQrG00" width="500" height="500" ></figure>No longer the precursor to the start of the school year for most students, Labor Day weekend now serves as the first three-day weekend break. Kids and their parents get one more chance to take it a bit easy before the grind of the fall semester and all its activities starts to take its toll.There will be sales and parades, backyard barbecues (maybe not everyone has closed their pools just yet?) and even a few ceremonies in which folks gather to remember the true purpose of the holiday: We owe the success of this country not to the politicians who want all the control and credit, but to the everyday men and women who got to work building it. And we owe it to the laborers of the past to remember the strides they made on our behalf.Yes, the holiday was born out of the burgeoning labor movement that accompanied the industrial boom of the late 19th Century. That movement tackled issues such as child labor, unsustainably long and hard work weeks, unsafe working conditions and attempts at fairer pay.The history of workers fighting for better conditions and better lives for their families is woven deeply into our region's heritage. At the same time, for generations employers have understood that if they want capable, intelligent and hard-working people working for them, there are worse places to look than West Virginia or Ohio.Make no mistake. Today some of the laborers of this region still willingly put their lives on the line for the rest of us as part of a day's work. Some of them do make that ultimate sacrifice, and are remembered during Workers' Memorial Days often observed on or near Labor Day weekend.And while the fight for livable wages, safe working conditions, education and training that prepares them for better opportunities, and jobs that sustain quality of life rather than weakening it may never end, on Labor Day weekend it is important to remember how far we've come AND how far we want to go.Enjoy the holiday break, then; and when you get back to work Tuesday, let's keep building.***"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." -- Martin Luther King, Jr."Labor Day is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race or nation." -- Samuel Gompers (labor union activist, 1850-1924)</div></body>

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No longer the precursor to the start of the school year for most students, Labor Day weekend now serves as the first three-day weekend break. Kids and their parents get one more chance to take it a bit easy before the grind of the fall semester and all its activities starts to take its toll.

Labor Day: Remember what we’re working for

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No longer the precursor to the start of the school year for most students, Labor Day weekend now serves as the first three-day weekend break. Kids and thei

Labor Day: Remember what we’re working for

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