In the Jewish faith, the new year begins in September. In the Christian faith, the new church year also begins in September. And in most places in the United States, September marks the beginning of another new year – the school year.

It’s September and club meetings, suspended over the summer, resume (book club, snow mobile club, Library Friends). September! A new football season. A new hunting season. Let’s face it: In many ways, Labor Day is the real New Year’s Day. And most of us spent yesterday cooking out, playing games, or just lounging and loafing.

But yesterday, on Labor Day, members of Local 900, which represents workers at NewPage (MeadWestvaco, Mead, Boise, Ethyl, Oxford paper mill), were just as likely as not to be working a shift.

Gary Hemingway has been a union member and a mill employee for 32 years and president of Local 900 for about five. When we spoke last week, I noticed that, although he’s quick to identify challenges to workers’ rights, Gary used the “we” word for union and management leadership.

“Hey, it’s my company, too. I want them to make money. I’m in it for the long haul,” he said.

Since Donald “Junior” Barker – who pulled the union through the unforgettable strike of 1986 – left the post, six men have served as president: John Patrick, Ronald Hemingway, Bruce Bryant, Mike Foreman, Rodney Jamison, and Gary.

Gary said the union doesn’t have any special events on Labor Day because “it’s hard to get shift workers together.”

But make no mistake, he added, “We believe in Labor Day.”

Labor Day switch-a-roo

In 2000, the mill management asked union members to take the Labor Day holiday on the day after Thanksgiving. No way. Out of respect for the labor movement, Local 900 insisted on sticking with the first Monday in September.

But the truth is Labor Day was originally celebrated on May 1. In most industrialized countries, it still is. On May 1, 1886, in Chicago, the national labor strike called by the American Federation of Labor turned violent. Many strikers were injured, some died. The “Chicago Eight” were convicted for organizing the strike.

To honor them and all American labor, the European socialist party organized the first Labor Day on May 1, 1889. Following the example of the Knights of Labor 1882 parade in New York City, some states designated the first Monday in September as Labor Day. Congress made it law in 1894. Labor Day became a national holiday observed nearly mid-point between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving and a safe distance on the calendar from May 1, a date long associated with socialism and later with communism.

No matter its history, Labor Day feels like lounge and loaf day. Hope you enjoyed it!

Linda Farr Macgregor lives in Rumford with her husband Jim. She is a longtime community volunteer and author of “Rumford Stories.” The book is based on oral history interviews that she conducted for the Rumford Bicentennial Oral History Project. Contact her at [email protected].