PENNSAUKEN, NJ – Today, U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) – an electrician by trade and a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee – announced the Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Landmark Act that designates the Peter J. McGuire Memorial and Gravesite located in Pennsauken, New Jersey, as a National Historic Landmark.

“Peter J. McGuire first proposed the concept of Labor Day – a day to honor the American worker – over 130 years ago. He understood the American workforce is our greatest renewable resource and honoring his achievements with this landmark is the least we can do,” said Congressman Norcross. “Today, some people have unfortunately forgotten what Peter J. McGuire knew back in the 1880s, that honoring the value and dignity of work, paying a fair wage and respecting employees is good for business and good for America

Noorcross added: “I spent decades wiring buildings, lighting bridges and fighting for better working conditions for New Jersey families – and Peter J. McGuire set the stage for all of that. I’m humbled that – as just a kid from Pennsauken – I’m in a position to properly memorialize my hometown hero in this way.”

Norcross announced his legislation at the 123^rd Annual Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Observance and Scholarship Breakfast. The breakfast and the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington Cemetery have become annual traditions in South Jersey. Click here to view or download photos.

“The story of Peter J. MaGuire, the “Father of Labor Day,” reminds us that workers have been fighting for over a century to win the freedom to negotiate for higher wages and better jobs.  We have come a long way since the first Labor Day in 1882, but we still have a long way to go,” said Richard L. Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO. “Today’s labor leaders stand on the shoulders of visionaries like Peter J. Maguire, and we commend our Brother, Representative Don Norcross, for honoring our past, but more importantly for helping build a better future.”

"Peter J. McGuire is our founder, one of the great labor leaders of the 19th Century and most deserving of this honor," said Douglas J. McCarron, President of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. "We thank Congressman Norcross - our champion and union brother - for proposing this bill and encourage other Members of Congress to join him in honoring the 'Father of Labor Day.'”

Click here to read the full text of the Peter J. McGuire Labor Day Landmark Act.

About Donald Norcross – Representing the American Worker

An IBEW member and electrician by trade, Norcross has a long history of fighting for workers in South Jersey. He fought day in and day out to ensure workers had good-paying jobs as a business agent and as president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO. In the state legislature, he was part of the successful fight to raise the minimum wage in New Jersey.

Related Content

• Norcross published an op-ed in Courier-Post titled “Following in the footsteps of the father of Labor Day” today.
• Norcross hosted colleagues in South Jersey for a day-long forum on ‘The Future of Work, Wages and Labor’ on August 4, 2017.
• Norcross expressed strong support for the new Democratic agenda ‘A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future' on July 24, 2017.
• Norcross and all of House Education and the Workforce Committee Democrats urge Chairwoman Virginia Foxx to hold a full Committee hearing on the Raise the Wage Act in a letter on July 24, 2017.
• Norcross writes “first and foremost for me is raising wages” in an op-ed Sunday, July 23, 2017.
• Norcross says, “I urge my colleagues to stop the pandering to the wealthiest people and corporations in this country and to remember who they are supposed to represent – middle-class, hard-working American families” after House Republicans released their budget proposal on July 18, 2017.
• Norcross and colleagues introduce the Raise the Wage Act on May 25, 2017.
• Norcross was appointed to serve on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and he vowed to represent New Jersey labor and working families on January 5, 2017.

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Contact: Ally Kehoe, Communications Director
ally.kehoe@mail.house.gov