September 6, 2026

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

It is not a stretch to link Labor Day, the first Monday in September, with the sadness of just a few days later, the 11th of 2001, when the nation was attacked on three fronts in utter terrorism.

Labor Day in the United States was won politically by the rising workers’ movement and unionization of the later 1800s industrial age when 12-hour, six-day-a-week work and unsafe conditions prevailed. It took the crippling Pullman rail strike of 1894 and increasing labor unrest for the Congress and President Grover Cleveland to establish the first Labor Day that year.

Keyed principally to blue collar, the American Experiment found an enlightening moment to recognize the sweat and hardship of those who built foundations for the wealthy class, yes, but also for the emerging middle class.

U.S. productivity remains among the highest in the world not only because of a skilled work force but because of labor with a show-up, can-do ethic. How many fathers with lunch pails were family heroes? How many Rosie Riveters replaced fighting men to help win a world war? The grit has been there, is there.

When the day that became September 11th 25 years ago, the labor that was in the firehouses of New York and the police precincts; the rural volunteer first responders in Pennsylvania; and the security team at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, were yet to be called into action. So were civilians on four hijacked aircraft.

Just a few hours later, at 8:46 a.m., the first of the Twin Towers of the world Trade Center in Lower Manhattan was hit by an al-Qaeda-hijacked plane out of Boston, killing all aboard and the initial hundreds of World Trade Center workers on floors 93-99. The second tower was struck by another plane 17 minutes later.

A third plane destroyed the western face of the Pentagon – the giant headquarters of the U.S. military just outside Washington, D.C. A fourth aircraft, United Flight 93, crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back. It is believed the hijackers intended to attack the Capitol.

The attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 victims, including 246 on the four planes, 2,606 in the World Trade Center, and 125 at the Pentagon. Thousands more were injured, and long-term health effects and deaths continue.

In the heroic and immediate reaction to the Sept. 11th attacks, with the labor of both paid and volunteer responders; with the courage of civilians in the Trade Center; with the reaction of those heroes on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania; with the response by military and civilians at the Pentagon; with the quick jump into action by on-duty and retired fire and police officers in New York City as well as civilians; with the many hands that reported to the attack sites in post-9/11 duty;with all such response, there can be undeniable respect for all labor working together and individually.

This is America. We are in the 250th year of the American Experiment. Our nation has seen both sad and inspiring history; we have made mistakes and achieved milestones. In our most-challenging moments – civil and world war, depression, the terrorist attacks of September 11th – we have risen to labor together in help, empathy and humanity.

Since the attacks 25 years ago, our Labor Day, so close to 9/11, is linked in national pride for the unchallenged work of our people in peace and in attack.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

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