Today is Labor Day in the U.S. Though many think of it mostly as a last long weekend for recreation and shopping before the symbolic end of summer, the federal holiday, officially established in 1894, celebrates the contributions of labor.

Here are some Soc Images posts on a range of issues related to workers, from the history of the labor movement to current workplace conditions to the impacts of the changing economy on workers’ pay:

• What have unions ever done for us?
• Footage of strikes and protests
• “Is your washroom breeding Bolsheviks?”
• Target’s anti-union video for new employees
• Unemployment and support for unions
• Child labor, 1908-1912
• Mike Rowe defends blue-collar manual labor
• Jon Stewart on class warfare
• César Chávez and the fight for farmworkers’ rights (pictured)
• Hiring non-union workers to staff picket lines
• “A woman’s place is in her union!”
• Historical look at changes in types of work
• The “precariat”: The new working class
• The exploitation of worker productivity
• Luxury and the consumption of labor
• Can the minimum wage cover average housing costs?
• First-time mothers and access to paid work leave
• International comparison of workplace leave policies
• Discrimination against the long-term unemployed
• What kinds of jobs are we gaining in the slow recovery?
• Devaluing hospitality workers