Labor Day In Hawai’i, many workers celebrate Labor Day with a three-day weekend. Looking back, Labor Day also celebrates the coming of reasonable working hours and benefits, and the toil of men and women across centuries that has brought prosperity
Labor Day
In Hawai’i, many workers celebrate Labor Day with a three-day weekend.
Looking back, Labor Day also celebrates the coming of reasonable working hours and benefits, and the toil of men and women across centuries that has brought prosperity to the Hawaiian Islands.
The labor tradition dates back into ancient Hawai’i, when the maka’ainana, or the working class, labored for their families, as well as the ali’i, in tending taro lo’i, in fishing, in creating various structures and in other forms of labor necessary to the well being of their families and communities.
With the coming of industrial-age sugar plantations, starting at Koloa in 1835, the cash economy came to Kaua’i and the other islands of Hawai’i. No longer was barter the main means of trading work for goods. With this cash economy came immigrants from Asia and other areas who arrived after signing a working contract promising to labor for a set number of years in exchange for transportation to Hawai’i and a monthly wage.
The sugar plantations provided many of the necessities of life, plus enough in wages so some workers could become there own bosses. This form of labor was antiquated by the early 20th century, and labor struggled through the formation of unions, a movement that became firmly established mostly after World War II.
Today, the workers of Kaua’i are honored today. Those that work in hotels and restaurants, the road workers and construction workers, the state and county workers, those who work in stores and in transportation – all are rewarded today with this annual holiday.
Ice series
This week The Garden Island is presenting a probing and interesting series of articles on the “Ice Epidemic” Hawai’i is facing.
Writers from the Associated Press have compiled this series, and are offering a look at the political and law enforcement side of the problem, as well as in-depth interviews with ice addicts.
The five-part series today takes a look at the effect of ice on young people in Hawai’i, and notes well the long-term effects this deadly drug will have on Hawai’i’s society for decades, if not generations, to come.
The article also focuses on the charitable work being done with young victims of the ice epidemic. Those being hurt both physically and emotionally include infants and toddlers, as well as older children.
The push by law enforcement officials and government leaders needs to be made even harder to make sure the tide is turned on the ice epidemic before it becomes a situation we can’t defeat.
