The 4/20/69 Solution
How we got weekends and what else could we get?
HAPPY BELATED LABOR DAY!
If you are reading this I hope you were someone who was lucky enough to have had a very restful day off yesterday. When many people think of Labor Day, they think of BBQs, the last of summer, maybe going to the lake or camping, and having a three day weekend.
Do you know, though, how we got to even have weekends at all?
Before Labor Day was established most people didn’t get to have things like weekends, the federal minimum wage, sick days, PTO, no child labor (DAMN FR?), 8 hour work days, 40 hour workweeks or safety regulations for workers. So how did we get those things? And what actually is Labor day? I, too, have always been focused on having an extra day off and had never before looked into what actually transpired!
A LITTLE LABOR DAY HISTORY
The Los Angeles Public Library describes Labor day like this:
“...the holiday was created to celebrate American workers' social and economic achievements.
Labor Day has officially been a national holiday in the United States since 1894 but was celebrated for some time before that. The first Labor Day observance was in New York City on September 5, 1882, when 10,000 workers took unpaid leave and marched through the streets to demonstrate the strength of the trade and labor organizations. The event, which union leaders put on, also included speeches, picnics, fireworks, and amusement. Labor Day soon became a tradition in the city and quickly spread to other parts of the country.”
TEN THOUSAND WORKERS?? Today, even getting five friends together feels like a feat (which maybe is the point of capitalism, but more on that another day).
DARKER HISTORY
When I went looking for information about Labor Day I found some really interesting points. For instance even though the first Labor Day Parade was in September 1882, the movement didn’t start or end there. First, once Labor day was established as a federal holiday, it was really only for federal workers. Many businesses fought against it as a holiday and against unions for worker’s rights There was an entire bloody massacre that took place in May, 1886 that started as a peaceful demonstration protesting FOR an EIGHT hour workday. People were being forced to work around the clock and thanks to labor unions, the workers got together to fight it.
It’s also really important that we give credit (and reparations) to laborers who historically and overwhelmingly didn’t have the same rights as others. Looking back, when labor movements were making a lot of change this did not often include black people, many of whom were just starting to learn that they weren’t enslaved any longer. And today, in 2025 with ICE in many cities, brutally kidnapping people under the guise of deportation, it feels insane not to recognize that day laborers and farm laborers don’t always have the luxury of taking days off and of getting benefits. When you are paid under the table you don’t often get to say I want an 8 hour workday and weekends off.
And DON’T GET ME STARTED on prison labor, aka slave labor. The shady and underhanded way that companies (and not just prison companies) have interests and lobby for more jail time in order to extract free labor. It’s almost as if the more vulnerable someone is, the less benefits they get from our many systems. SO WEIRD.
So, yes I am vv happy to have dedicated days off and that my job can’t force me to work 60+ hours a week or fire me if I don’t. That’s pretty rad. Love not being forced into *that much* labor.
But today employers do still have lots of power. For instance, my job is where I get my insurance from. And lately with talk about medicaid getting cut, I am feeling really grateful to have a job but I am also deeply scared that I could possibly lose more than just my income if things didn’t work with my work. I live in an at-will state and it could all come to an end at any time for almost any reason my employer says. Luckily, I love my job and I do have some trust that my employer won’t just randomly fire me, but my company having the power to destroy my primary source of income AND my access to healthcare is a situation I can’t forget I’m in.
DEPRESSING. BUT LETS LOOK FORWARD!
As you may have noticed I love to fantasize about possibilities. I love dreaming of things being easeful and more fun, joyful, exciting, enriching and connected. A life like that is definitely worth dreaming about on a regular basis. It’s part of the way I stay connected to an abundance mindset. So you butter believe I daydream about everyone having safe access to work that fulfills them, to more than enough benefits to help them live long and healthy lives, to ways of working (or straight up just living) that could make even the most vulnerable person feel safe and prosperous. We all deserve that.
Because of all that daydreaming, I’m drawn to alternative ideas about what labor looks like for us all. The 8 hour workday started because of an idea about having 8 hours for working, 8 hours for resting and 8 hours to do “what thou wilt”.
Many people before me have already done some dreaming of their own. Some folks want there to be a 6 hour work day and some are in favor of a 4 day workweek. My favorite has to be a brief movement from 2020 that proposed a maximum 4 hour workday, 20 hour workweek and minimum of $69 an hour, otherwise known as 4/20/69. A silly name with serious demands. I couldn’t find much information about that one, I had only heard about it from a few organizing friends but it sounds like a dream. If you have more information about this, I want to know!
Welp, whether you are lucky enough to have a regular 4 day workweek, you get to have one this week or you have to work a bunch to make sure you have rent, I hope you stay soft and have a very gentle tuesday.
What’s your dream work schedule?
