Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894, when President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September a day off for workers. Labor unions had campaigned for years to gain recognition of both the contributions and the mistreatment of workers. History is littered dirty tricks to keep unions out with bullets and billy clubs. Now it’s more genteel, but some so called "good guy companies" are still quietly (and illegally) union busting.