LEAD Pacific Northwest Celebrates National Blue Collar Day on December 8th, 2023

December 8th, 2023 is National Blue Collar Day. LEAD Pacific Northwest is looking forward to celebrating the hard-working men and women who make the Blue Collar staffing industry a crucial component of the nation’s economy, by participating in National Today’s initiative to raise awareness about the importance of Blue Collar jobs.

“Blue Collar Day is the chance to remind our team that they are appreciated,” said Michael Lennox, LEAD Pacific Northwest Regional Manager, “Our employees and clients put in really long hours often in tough environments, and it’s nice to see people recognizing those efforts.”

National Blue Collar Day was established in 2019 by Todd Sohn to raise awareness of the working class’s central place in society, celebrate the history of labor movements that led to improving conditions for Blue Collar workers, and to offer companies participating in the celebration ways to introduce the concepts and facts associated with the honorary date into their workplaces.

National Today, an organization tracking holidays and other commemorative dates, briefly lists the history leading up to the establishment of National Blue Collar Day. After the National Labor Union was established in 1866 in Baltimore Maryland with the goal of creating a nationwide workforce group, successive efforts led to the nation’s first Labor Day on September 5th, 1882, as part of the continuation of the movement to protect, improve, and promote working class jobs. This was followed by the first use of the term “Blue Collar” in 1924 as a way of distinguishing the factory workers from the office workers by the collar of their uniform, and then the establishment of the first National Blue Collar Day in 2019.

National Today recommends several possibilities for businesses celebrating the holiday to weave activities into the workday that highlight the role of the working class in American working life. Some suggestions include:

  • Touring a local industrial plant
  • Reading up on Blue Collar professions and their history in the library or online
  • Watching a classic movie depicting Blue Collar workers.

The organization also lists five reasons it’s important to celebrate the working class and the sacrifices of the men and women in Blue Collar jobs, without whom much of daily life would become impossible. According to National Today:

  • Blue Collar workers make up 80% of all Americans and their numbers are growing.
  • It’s important to raise awareness of nuances within the terms Blue Collar and working class, such as the four subgroups of unskilled laborers, artisans, factory workers, and home-based workers, and to educate people on these distinctions.
  • Blue Collar jobs are tough, and many workers can struggle to make ends meet.
  • Blue Collar jobs can be susceptible to automation, potentially causing problems for workers.
  • To correct misconceptions about working class jobs automatically being “lower class” because they tend to be less well paid then white-collar jobs.

“National Today does a great job of highlighting why the skilled trades are so important, and what challenges Blue Collar jobs entail,” Michael said.

National Today ends their page with three final highlights of “Why we love National Blue Collar Day”:

  • Blue collar workers are the often-unsung backbone of our country.
  • They know how to get their hands dirty, and keep our lives running smoothly, especially the carpenters, plumbers and mechanics that maintain our daily lives.
  • They show up every day to get the job done and never quit.

We salute them, writes National Today.

LEAD Pacific Northwest regularly fills positions for structural welders, pipe welders, pipe fitters, fabricators, manual machinists, CNC machinists, iron workers, millwrights, painters, carpenters, framers, trim carpenters, form setters, drywallers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, refrigeration technicians, HVAC, as well as professional positions including but not limited to foremen, superintendents, project managers, field engineers, and safety directors.

Reach Michael and his team at 855-485-5498.