To everybody who has ever worked for an hourly wage, and especially everybody in a union, this is your day. Take a bow and hoist a beer. I think Costco can take great pride in the fact that instead of racking up holiday sales, they close for Labor Day and give all their employees a paid holiday.

I grew up in a union family. I have always found it interesting that Mormons are almost all strongly anti-union, all the more unusual because almost none of them have actually been in a union. It's rather like a deeply racist North Dakotan who has never ever actually met a Black person (and such people exist in droves in ND).

Anyhow, a history prof on a website I follow posted a Labor Day quiz. As a retired teacher, I know how hard it is to do good multiple choice questions, This guy is good, and I appreciate expertise. Enjoy

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Today is Labor Day. Our best wishes to all who are commemorating the holiday, and in particular to whose who are, or who have been, union members.

As we sometimes do on holidays, both in honor of the occasion, and because news tends to be slow, we've put together a little quiz for you to try your hand at. You could Google most or all of the answers, but where's the fun in that? We'll let you chew on things for a day, and then all will be revealed tomorrow. For now, here are the 12 questions:

1. The first labor union in American history, founded in the 1790s, was for people involved in the production of...what?

a) Shoes
b) Metal goods (it was a union for blacksmiths)
c) Rope
d) Tobacco products
e) Newspapers

2. We would not want to let this occasion pass without noting the toil of the millions of folks who could not join labor unions because their time, and their person, was not their own. This passage was excised from a prominent document before its final draft was completed:

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.
Who is "He"?

a) God
b) King George III
c) Ramón Ferrer, captain of La Amistad
d) Simon Legree, principal antagonist of Uncle Tom's Cabin
e) Jefferson Davis

3. What is generally regarded as the first Labor Day celebration took place when 10,000 workers took unpaid time off from work to stage a parade in New York City. The president who was in office on that day is also known for what other "first"?

a) First president to hold the White House Easter Egg Roll
b) First president to take the oath of office in his own home
c) First president to be filmed by a movie camera
d) First president to have his voice recorded
e) First president to ride in an automobile

4. Meanwhile, the president who was in office when Labor Day became a federal holiday was the only president to...?

a) Be awarded a patent
b) Serve non-consecutive terms
c) Serve on the Supreme Court
d) Take the oath of office from someone who was not a judge
e) Graduate from Stanford University

5. Who is generally regarded as the inspiration for the American version of Labor Day?

a) The Molly Maguires
b) Steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie
c) Labor leader Samuel Gompers
d) Author Henry David Thoreau
e) The Canadians

6. The federal law that formally recognized the right of labor to bargain collectively was named for what U.S. senator who sponsored it?

a) Justin S. Morrill
b) George H. Pendleton
c) John T. Sherman
d) Robert F. Wagner
e) Robert A. Taft

7. It is uncommon to celebrate Labor Day in September, the majority of countries do it on or near May 1, which is International Workers' Day. Roughly how many countries have already had their Labor Day this year?

a) 100
b) 125
c) 150
d) 175
e) 200

8. Which of the groups of three below includes countries that will also be celebrating Labor Day today?

a) Andorra, Spain, and Turkey
b) Argentina, Mexico, and Israel
c) Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
d) Bermuda, Canada, and Palau
e) Brazil, Fiji, and Tuvalu

9. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans will consume 7 billion...what?

a) Hot dogs
b) Pounds of watermelon
c) Cans of beer
d) Gallons of lemonade
e) Kilowatt hours of electricity powering their air conditioners

10. What is the relationship between the Oscars and organized labor?

a) The Oscars were created by Hollywood's first labor union
b) The Oscars were not created by a union, but were founded to create some paid union work during the "slow" season
c) The Oscars were not created by a union, but the first three ceremonies were sponsored by a union (the Screen Actors Guild)
d) The Oscars were created primarily by Ralph Morgan, who would go on to serve two terms as head of the Screen Actors Guild
e) The Oscars were created in an effort to undermine unions

11. Suppose you're going to have a movie night featuring only Best Picture winners about blue-collar laborers. What's the oldest movie you can show?

a) "It Happened One Night" (1934)
b) "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937)
c) "Of Mice and Men" (1939)
d) "How Green Was My Valley" (1941)
e) "On the Waterfront" (1954)

12. And finally, which of these actors was nominated for an Oscar for playing a blue-collar laborer?

a) Marlon Brando (Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront")
b) Sally Field (Norma Rae Webster in "Norma Rae")
c) Meryl Streep (Karen Silkwood in "Silkwood")
d) Henry Fonda (Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath")
e) Paul Newman (Hud Bannon in "Hud")

Again, watch for the answers tomorrow.

Why?

What's tomorrow?



It better not be another frickin' holiday, when the golf courses charge weekend rates!!!

The only answers I definitely know are for questions 2 and 6, though I suspect I may know the answers to 8 and 10 as well. The fact that I actually know so few of the answers (and I learned one of them directly because of my visual disability) says a lot about what we teach, and don't teach, our children about unions in the United States.

I know #8. :)

Knowing #5 would have been more impressive. :)

Rats. I didn't notice that one. I would know that too. :)

Jerry, if there is a ghawd, I hope both he and you are grading on a curve.

For EOD - today is Labor Boxing Day. Or Boxing Labor Day.
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Note: the authors used a lot of bold face to highlight answers and additional explanation. I can't do that here, so this may be a tad hard to untangle.


Yesterday, we ran a 12-question Labor Day-themed quiz. Here are the questions again, this time with answers:

1. The first labor union in American history, founded in the 1790s, was for people involved in the production of...what?

a) Shoes <===
b) Metal goods (it was a union for blacksmiths)
c) Rope
d) Tobacco products
e) Newspapers

In 1794, shoemakers in Philadelphia organized a union called the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers.


2. We would not want to let this occasion pass without noting the toil of the millions of folks who could not join labor unions because their time, and their person, was not their own. This passage was excised from a prominent document before its final draft was completed:

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.
Who is "He"?

a) God
b) King George III <===
c) Ramón Ferrer, captain of La Amistad
d) Simon Legree, principal antagonist of Uncle Tom's Cabin
e) Jefferson Davis

This is the anti-slavery passage that Thomas Jefferson wrote for the Declaration of Independence. His fellow slave owners suggested it might not be the best idea to suggest that slavery was, in any way, less than perfect. So, this portion was excised.


3. What is generally regarded as the first Labor Day celebration took place when 10,000 workers took unpaid time off from work to stage a parade in New York City. The president who was in office on that day is also known for what other "first"?

a) First president to hold the White House Easter Egg Roll
b) First president to take the oath of office in his own home <===
c) First president to be filmed by a movie camera
d) First president to have his voice recorded
e) First president to ride in an automobile

The parade took place on Sept. 5, 1882, with Chester A. Arthur in the White House. The other firsts: Rutherford B. Hayes (Easter Egg Roll), Grover Cleveland (movie camera), Benjamin Harrison (voice recorded), and William McKinley (automobile).


4. Meanwhile, the president who was in office when Labor Day became a federal holiday was the only president to...?

a) Be awarded a patent
b) Serve non-consecutive terms <===
c) Serve on the Supreme Court
d) Take the oath of office from someone who was not a judge
e) Graduate from Stanford University

Grover Cleveland signed the bill on June 28, 1894. The other "onlys": Abraham Lincoln (patent), William Howard Taft (Supreme Court), Calvin Coolidge (oath of office), and Herbert Hoover (Stanford).


5. Who is generally regarded as the inspiration for the American version of Labor Day?

a) The Molly Maguires
b) Steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie
c) Labor leader Samuel Gompers
d) Author Henry David Thoreau
e) The Canadians <===

Yep, it's the Nades. On March 25, 1872, the Toronto Printers Union went on strike for better working conditions and reduced hours. Although the strike did not achieve its goals, Canadian workers commemorated the strike with an annual celebration thereafter. The practice spread to the United States, and then elsewhere, over the next several decades.


6. The federal law that formally recognized the right of labor to bargain collectively was named for what U.S. senator who sponsored it?

a) Justin S. Morrill
b) George H. Pendleton
c) John T. Sherman
d) Robert F. Wagner <===
e) Robert A. Taft

It was the Wagner Act of 1935. The Morrill Act was about land sales, the Pendleton Act reformed the civil service, and the Sherman Acts committed the government to purchasing silver and to combating monopolies. The Taft-Harley Act was about unions, but came more than a decade after the Wagner Act, and was actually anti-union.


7. It is uncommon to celebrate Labor Day in September, the majority of countries do it on or near May 1, which is International Workers' Day. Roughly how many countries have already had their Labor Day this year?

a) 100
b) 125
c) 150
d) 175 <===
e) 200

161 counties celebrated on May 1 this year, and another 12 moved the commemoration to May 3, as May 1 was a Saturday. Jamaica celebrates on May 23, in honor of the date in 1938 when Alexander Bustamante led a labor rebellion leading to Jamaican independence. Similarly Trinidad and Tobago celebrates on June 19, in honor of the 1937 protests that birthed that nation's trade union movement. That's a total of 175 countries who celebrated sometime before the U.S. did this year.


8. Which of the groups of three below includes countries that will also be celebrating Labor Day today?

a) Andorra, Spain, and Turkey
b) Argentina, Mexico, and Israel
c) Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
d) Bermuda, Canada, and Palau <===
e) Brazil, Fiji, and Tuvalu

Those are, in fact, the only three besides the United States and its territories.


9. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans will consume 7 billion...what?

a) Hot dogs <===
b) Pounds of watermelon
c) Cans of beer
d) Gallons of lemonade
e) Kilowatt hours of electricity powering their air conditioners

That's around 20 hot dogs per American. Most of these other quantities would come in at something less than 7 billion, except the kWh for air conditioning. That's much closer to 700 billion kWh between Memorial Day and Labor Day.


10. What is the relationship between the Oscars and organized labor?

a) The Oscars were created by Hollywood's first labor union
b) The Oscars were not created by a union, but were founded to create some paid union work during the "slow" season
c) The Oscars were not created by a union, but the first three ceremonies were sponsored by a union (the Screen Actors Guild)
d) The Oscars were created primarily by Ralph Morgan, who would go on to serve two terms as head of the Screen Actors Guild
e) The Oscars were created in an effort to undermine unions <===

Louis B. Mayer of MGM and some of his buddies first created the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as something of a guild, under their control, in hopes of persuading actors, directors, and other talent that there was no need to unionize; they could just join the guild (if they were important enough, that is). AMPAS was also meant as a PR operation, to sell the notion that working in Hollywood was all sunshine and rainbows, and only a scrooge would want to unionize under those circumstances. Obviously, Mayer's scheme did not work out.


11. Suppose you're going to have a movie night featuring only Best Picture winners about blue-collar laborers. What's the oldest movie you can show?

a) "It Happened One Night" (1934)
b) "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937)
c) "Of Mice and Men" (1939)
d) "How Green Was My Valley" (1941) <===
e) "On the Waterfront" (1954)

"It Happened One Night" is a screwball comedy, and "The Life of Emile Zola" is a biopic. "Of Mice and Men" is about blue-collar laborers, but did not win Best Picture that year, as it was up against "Gone With the Wind." That leaves "How Green Was My Valley," which is about a family of Welsh coal miners, and famously beat out "Citizen Kane" for Best Picture (not to mention "The Maltese Falcon" and "Sergeant York"). "On the Waterfront" is also about blue-collar laborers, and also won Best Picture, but came 13 years after "How Green Was My Valley."


12. And finally, which of these actors was nominated for an Oscar for playing a blue-collar laborer?

a) Marlon Brando (Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront")
b) Sally Field (Norma Rae Webster in "Norma Rae")
c) Meryl Streep (Karen Silkwood in "Silkwood")
d) Henry Fonda (Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath")
e) Paul Newman (Hud Bannon in "Hud")

Always good to end an a positive note, so all five answers are correct. Brando and Field won for these performances; the other three also took home Oscars, but for other films ("Kramer vs. Kramer," "Sophie's Choice," and "The Iron Lady" for Streep; "On Golden Pond" for Fonda and "The Color of Money" for Newman).

And there you have it. If you got 6 or more, that's very good; (Z) knows a thing or two about writing plausible wrong answers on a multiple choice test. (Z)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2021 07:12PM by Brother Of Jerry.

The Canadians???

Cultural imperialism rears its hoary head again. . .

Ha.

We start small but end with a bang.

So watch out!

Today it's Labour Day. Tomorrow you'll all be assembling for High Tea.

Here's my favourite hangout for that ("Hot and Steamy since 1908"):

https://www.teaattheempress.com/


The next thing I'm working on is getting CZ to stop redlining all the UK/Cdn spellings. We need those 'u's in there!

    

I got #6 right but for the wrong reason--I was thinking of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (also known as the Javitts-Wagner-O'Day Act), for that is the act that has had a very lasting effect on the disability population, and it wasn't good.

What the Fair Labor Standards Act did for the disabled was set up a series of government and privately-run "sheltered" workshops that would employ the disabled. These facilities would have contracts to manufacture brooms and other items for the Federal government and were considered to be a part of the system of rehabilitation and training for the disabled who by and large were deemed unsuitable to work in competitive fields with their able-bodied counterparts. Because the disabled were deemed to be less competitive and because the U.S. Congress wanted to create incentives for private able-bodied owners to earn money from these workshops, the law allowed for the disabled people working in these settings to be paid up to 60% below the U.S. minimum wage, and that law still stands today.

Fortunately, however, most people in the field have come to appreciate that many of the disabled, with proper training and technology, can compete in many more areas of society on equal (or nearly equal) terms with their able-bodied counterparts. With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1992 and the Workforce Reauthorization Act (I believe that was in 2012 or 2013), state rehabilitation agencies are now required to seek competitive employment for most disabled people outside of the sheltered workshop system set up by the Fair Labor Standards Act, and I can tell you now hat we ae seeing a rise in wages and benefits for most disabled populations because of these two U.S. laws.