Win Stracke, Bill Adelman, and Bill Neebe discusses the Haymarket Riot and the following trials and hangings which changed the labor movement around the world. The group discusses the American labor movement and police brutality that led to the protest and the eventual accusal of eight men. They also explore the roles George Pullman, Marshall Field, and the police force played and how they used the protest to weed out union leaders they did not like. The group briefly discusses the future of the labor movement.

Studs Terkel plays reenacted excerpts of interviews of various people from his book "Working." These interviews include people in a number of occupations including a car hiker, newspaper delivery boy, farm worker, homemaker, and waitress.

This is the Labor Day Program. The newsboy doesn't mind his job except when dealing with people who are mean to him or when people owe him money. The farmer recalls being so poor he was born in a cotton sack out in the farm fields because his parents couldn't afford a hospital stay. The waitress has been serving people for 24 years. She said she needed money quickly and cash tips came in handy. The truck driver likes his job because he says it's something different everyday and there's a sense of accomplishment with what he does.