Valley Life : footnotes

Monday is Labor Day. The first Labor Day celebration was held Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City. An estimated 25,000 workers from 53 unions rallied for the then-preposterous idea of an eight-hour workday. In those days, 12- and 14-hour workdays were not uncommon. In 1894, Labor Day was declared a federal holiday.

San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council and the Valley Labor Political Education Council will hold their 11th annual Interfaith Labor Day Service, featuring California Assembly Speaker Antonio R. Villaraigosa, starting at 5:30 p.m Monday with a family-style barbecue at the Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society, 9550 Haskell Ave., North Hills. (818) 718-6460, Ext. 3007.

Although nearly all Americans have benefited from the Labor Movement’s victories, union membership comprises less than 15% of the total work force, down from a 1950s high of nearly 50%.

Now, Labor Day is thought of more as the official end of summer, a time for picnics rather than political agitation.

The National Hot Dog & Sausage Council says Americans will have consumed 7 billion hot dogs this year from Memorial Day to Labor Day. If laid end to end, that’s enough tube steaks to stretch from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, 125 times. The average American eats about 60 hot dogs each year. Americans will eat 26 million hot dogs at Major League baseball parks this year alone. Dodger Stadium sells more hot dogs than any other major league venue, to the tune of about 2.2 million.