Today is Labor Day in the United States, for more than a century, a national holiday on the first Monday in September meant to honor the work — and economic achievements — of laborers and labor unions. The equivalent holiday in Canada, Labour Day, is also celebrated today.

Organizing by unions, and many workers losing their lives in the 19th and 20 century, helped win standards that most Americans enjoy and take for granted today, including the 40-hour work week, 8-hour day, and mandatory worker safety requirements.

The man in this photo, demonstrating in Madison Wisconsin in 2011, believes the right to organize and form a union is a sacred right — as "American" as baseball and apple pie.

Read about the history of Labor Unions on Wikipedia.