New York, NY – On September 6, in Midtown Manhattan labor unions began assembling at 8:30 a.m. for the annual NYC Labor Day Parade sponsored by the NYC Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The event is the nation's oldest and largest Labor Day Parade, with over 200 unions and constituency groups participating.

Many union locals had large floats which played loud music to energize the crowd of union members, who joined in to the event with their respective locals and enjoyed free food and drink.

Around 11 a.m., the crowd of tens of thousands of unionized workers began preparing to march north through the streets of Manhattan. While marching, they chanted, “Get up, get down, New York is a union town!” “Tax the rich! Tax the motherfucking rich!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go!”

Among the many unions and union locals present were the UFT, DC-37, NYSNA, UCATS 3882 of NYU, CSEA Local 1000, 1199 SEIU, NYC Iron Workers, and more.

The United Federation of Teachers, UFT, were in particularly strong force. The nearly 200,000-member public sector union had a float and hundreds of members present, reflecting a wide array of political interests. Slogans included “ “Union strong” and “Never cross a picket line.” Reflecting their opposition to Trump's anti-immigrant policies, educators also shouted “Up up with education, down down with deportation!”

A sizable group of UFT workers had signs and shirts which said “UFT for Zohran,” reflecting the union's recent endorsement of the progressive mayoral candidate. They chanted, “UFT for Mamdani” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Andrew Cuomo has got to go.” Many of these unionists discussed their experiences canvassing for Mamdani.

Other UFT members were present who had organized themselves into an autonomous group called “NYC Educators for Palestine” and were campaigning for the Teacher Retirement System of New York to divest from companies which support Israel’s ongoing occupation and genocide of Palestinians.

Many people not participating in the march watched it go by in solidarity. The march ended at West 64th Street with musical performances, chants and speeches.

#NewYorkCityNY #NY #Labor #LaborDay #AFLCIO #UFT #NYCEFP

Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, August 30, workers came out in full force to demonstrate outside of Senator Rick Scott’s office in downtown Jacksonville. This rally, organized by the North Florida Central Labor Council and the North Florida Future Labor Leaders, was in protest to the onslaught on US workers by the current administration.

This protest was sparked by the AFL-CIO’s call for a “Workers' Labor Day.”

Union teachers, plumbers, longshoremen, electricians, logistics workers and city employees showed out and demonstrated the power of union solidarity. LJ Holloway, a rank-and-file member of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), led the chant: “United we bargain! Divided we beg!” Anyone in downtown Jacksonville could hear the echoes of the workers chanting, “Who’s got the power? We got the power! What kind of power? Worker power!”

Monica Gold, a middle school teacher and proud union member, told the crowd, “Within our building we have teachers, paraprofessionals and office personnel. We have maintenance workers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians. And I think about how their victories are my victories, and how their losses are my losses, and that we’re so much stronger when we work together. I think it’s high time that we stop asking for things, but that we demand things.”

Many at the rally spoke on the Trump administration’s shameful attacks on unions and the working class as a whole, including the recent ruling on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Michael Sampson, an organizer and union rep for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) stated, “What we are seeing is the agenda of Donald Trump to starve us, to get rid of our unions, to get rid of the solidarity that we have with each other. Because he knows that having a union means having an organization, and having an organization of workers means having the ability to fight back against the agenda of corporate America.”

Shayne Tremblay, a union electrician and president of the North Florida Future Labor Leaders spoke on the need for solidarity, stating, “I believe that we need to take the winning strategy of solidarity that got us our unions, and we need to aim higher. We need to stand in solidarity, not just with our coworkers, but with every working person in this country. We need to organize all working people to turn this into a country that is for workers, by workers.”

The rally took place in one the most traffic-heavy parts of the city, and the workers got a plethora of honks and expressions of support from folks driving by.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #Labor #LaborDay #NFFLL #AFLCIO #ILA #AFSCME

Denver, CO – On Monday, September 1, over 1000 protesters assembled at the Colorado State Capitol for a Labor Day march. The march was part of nationwide mobilization entitled “Workers over Billionaires!” and was organized by a broad coalition of organizations including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Denver Anti-War Action, Colorado Education Association, and Colorado 50501.

The program began with speeches from several labor organizers on the power of organizing.

“In 2023, we launched the biggest contract campaign in decades,” said Katherine Draken, a rank-and-file UPS Teamster and member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, “And we won! We were ready to go on strike and UPS knew it. We got rid of the two-tier system, and we got the biggest wage increase ever!”

After the speeches, the 1000-plus crowd took to the streets and marched to the Denver Federal Immigration Court, where ICE has been kidnapping immigrants who show up for court check-ins. Along the march, the crowd chanted “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” and “When immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” Then, the crowd marched back to the capitol building and heard speeches from more organizers.

The crowd then took the streets for a second march, this time to the mansion of Colorado Governor Jared Polis. Polis, a Democrat, has faced criticism for not standing up against the Trump administration. In one example, he even had Colorado law enforcement agencies collaborate with ICE, in violation of a state law against such collaboration.

“Governor Polis's administration betrayed its commitment to the immigrant community by pressuring officials to unlawfully share private data with ICE. This action undermines state privacy laws and erodes trust in public institutions meant to serve and protect all residents. We can't allow our community to be attacked by those in power, the community must fight back and take back power!” said Brandon Gehrke of Aurora Unidos CSO.

#DenverCO #CO #Labor #ImmigrantRights #Trump #NoKings #LaborDay #DAWC #CEA #50501 #CSO

Atlanta, GA- Hundreds of workers and community members gathered in Woodruff Park Monday afternoon, September 1, to celebrate Labor Day and declare their opposition to Trump’s agenda.

The rally and march, titled “Workers over Billionaires”, was endorsed by a coalition of over 20 unions and political groups including: Teamsters Local 728, Starbucks Workers United, the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

The rally started with speeches and spirited chants denouncing Trump, ICE and the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza.

“There is a war being waged on the working class right now. It’s not just led by Trump, but by his allies in the monopoly capitalist class. Like Peter Thiel at Palantir, Carol Tome at UPS, and Jeff Bezos at Amazon,” Teamster and FRSO member Alex Carson told the crowd. “As a UPS worker we are experiencing this war on the shop floor every day. It looks like Trump’s tariffs reducing our hours, it looks like management increasing harassment. All the while, UPS has pulled in record profits for the last five years.”

After speeches, the protest marched down Auburn Avenue to the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and King Center. On every block supporters trickled out of buildings to film the protest and join chants of “When workers’ rights are under attack, what do you do? Stand up, fight back!”

This protest occurred on the heels of Trump’s vow to send the National Guard to Atlanta and was but a small show of force compared to what awaits them should troops be deployed.

#AtlantaGA #GA #Labor #LaborDay #Trump #Teamsters #SWU #AFLCIO #AAARPR

As the day went on, the parade included contingents from the Manufacturing Shoemakers Union No. 1 (wearing blue badges), and an especially well-received contingent from the Big 6 – Typographical Union No. 6 – whose 700-strong delegation marched with military precision (they had practiced beforehand.) The Friendly Society of Operative Masons marched with their band. They were followed by 250 members of the Clothing Cutters Benevolent and Protective Union, the Dress and Cloak Makers Union, the Decorative Masons, and the Bureau of United Carpenters (who marched with a decorated wagon).

The parade was filled with banners: “Labor Built the Republic – Labor Shall Rule It”; “To the Workers Should Belong the Wealth”; “Down with the Competitive System”; “Down with Convict Contract Labor”; “Down with the Railroad Monopoly”; and “Children in School and Not in Factories,” among others. The members of the Socialist Singing Society carried a red flag with a yellow lyre in its center. The banner which perhaps summed up the entire procession best was carried by members of the American Machinists, Engineers, and Blacksmiths Union (who wore heavy leather aprons and working clothes). It read simply: “Let Labor Unite.”

It was the first Labor Day parade – and it took place on a Tuesday.

Labor Day became official in this country when the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1894 making the first Monday in September a legal holiday. But this holiday was not simply given to the workers of the United States by the government as some act of charity. The tradition of publicly honoring labor’s contribution to society is a custom established by the workers themselves.

The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882. More than 10,000 workers marched. It was organized by the Central Labor Union, a body representing 60 unions and over 80,000 people. The CLU was a secret lodge of the Knights of Labor, the major national union of the time.

To really appreciate the September 1882 labor parade, it’s important to keep in mind the profound changes that this country had gone through in the 17 years before it took place. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the capitalists of the North emerged triumphant. They went on the offensive, bitterly opposing labor’s demands. By the time the depression of 1873 took place, any lingering unity between the different forces which had united in opposition to slavery had been torn apart.

On Saturday, July 21, 1877, 17 workers involved in a nationwide railroad strike were shot dead in Pittsburgh. The next day, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, a New York Protestant minister who had been one of the most eloquent orators against slavery, preached these words:

“God had intended the great to be great and the little to be little…The trade unions, originated under the European system, destroy liberty…I do not say that a dollar a day is enough to support a man and five children if he insists on smoking and drinking beer…[b]ut the man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live.”

The 1882 labor parade was the culmination of more than ten years of agitating and organizing by dedicated labor activists in New York. These activists were deeply committed to the fight for the eight-hour day and against the repressive tactics of the employers. They also worked closely with the leaders of what were at that time New York’s largest immigrant communities to assist the fight for justice in three countries: Ireland, France and Germany.

The 1882 parade took place in a city which had seen militiamen open fire on Irish-American Catholic demonstrators in 1871; where thousands demonstrated for the eight-hour day in 1872; and where three demonstrations had already taken place in 1882 to demand justice for Ireland in its fight against British rule. (All three demonstrations had been jointly sponsored by labor organizations and organizations fighting for Irish freedom.)

Because the 1882 labor parade was held on a work day, most of the participants had to give up a day’s pay in order to march. (The CLU even levied a fine on non-participants.) In all, the workers involved forfeited about $75,000 in lost wages.

The parade was scheduled to coincide with a national conference of the Knights of Labor being held in New York. This explains why almost the entire national leadership of the Knights of Labor was present on the parade’s reviewing stand in Union Square. However, the affiliation of these leaders with the Knights of Labor was discreetly hidden from the press that day. (At the time, the Knights of Labor was still a semi-secret society.) For instance, the top leader of the Knights of Labor – “Grand Master Workman” Terence Powderly – was introduced only as the mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania (which he was).

The vibrant character of the labor movement of that time can be seen by looking at three extraordinary people present on the reviewing stand at the 1882 parade:

Patrick Ford was the publisher and editor of the Irish World, a newspaper which strongly supported labor and the fight for Irish freedom. He had been brought to Boston from Ireland in 1842 at the age of seven. Ford had served his printing apprenticeship with newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison, America’s leading opponent of slavery, before the Civil War. In 1870, Ford founded the Irish World, a newspaper which was regularly suppressed when it was shipped to Ireland.

John Swinton was the chief editorial writer of the New York Sun. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he had moved to New York in 1850 and worked as a printer and became an abolitionist. Swinton had been with John Brown when he made his famous raid on Osawatomie, Kansas in 1857. Swinton would go on to start his own pro-labor newspaper in 1883.

Carl Daniel Adolf Douai was the publisher and editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung, a socialist German-language daily. Douai was a German immigrant who had been threatened with lynching when he spoke out against slavery while publishing in Texas. In 1860, he moved to New York where he became active in socialist, abolitionist, and Republican Party activities.

The presence of these three men on the reviewing stand – and the presence of Irish, French, and German flags (in addition to the U.S. flag) at the picnic which closed the day – illustrates the wide scope of labor’s concerns at that time. These leaders’ involvement with the parade (and the militant banners carried by the marchers) show that from its very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has been about more than just getting its members a few cents more an hour in wages. From its inception, the labor movement in this country has included both native and foreign-born leaders and immigrant workers have always played an important role in the labor movement. From the very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has included elements who have not been afraid to challenge the legitimacy of the wages system itself.

That’s definitely worth remembering this Labor Day.

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #LaborDay

The huge procession began with 400 members of Bricklayers Union No. 6, all dressed in white aprons. They were followed by a band and then the members of the Manufacturing Jewelers union. The jewelers marched four abreast, wearing derby hats and dark suits with buttonhole bouquets. They all carried canes resting on their shoulders (similar to the way infantry officers carry swords when on parade.)

As the day went on, the parade included contingents from the Manufacturing Shoemakers Union No. 1 (wearing blue badges), and an especially well-received contingent from the Big 6 – Typographical Union No. 6 – whose 700-strong delegation marched with military precision (they had practiced beforehand.) The Friendly Society of Operative Masons marched with their band. They were followed by 250 members of the Clothing Cutters Benevolent and Protective Union, the Dress and Cloak Makers Union, the Decorative Masons, and the Bureau of United Carpenters (who marched with a decorated wagon).

The parade was filled with banners: “Labor Built the Republic – Labor Shall Rule It”; “To the Workers Should Belong the Wealth”; “Down with the Competitive System”; “Down with Convict Contract Labor”; “Down with the Railroad Monopoly”; and “Children in School and Not in Factories,” among others. The members of the Socialist Singing Society carried a red flag with a yellow lyre in its center. The banner which perhaps summed up the entire procession best was carried by members of the American Machinists, Engineers, and Blacksmiths Union (who wore heavy leather aprons and working clothes). It read simply: “Let Labor Unite.”

It was the first Labor Day parade – and it took place on a Tuesday.

Labor Day became official in this country when the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1894 making the first Monday in September a legal holiday. But this holiday was not simply given to the workers of the United States by the government as some act of charity. The tradition of publicly honoring labor’s contribution to society is a custom established by the workers themselves.

The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882. More than 10,000 workers marched. It was organized by the Central Labor Union, a body representing 60 unions and over 80,000 people. The CLU was a secret lodge of the Knights of Labor, the major national union of the time.

To really appreciate the September 1882 labor parade, it’s important to keep in mind the profound changes that this country had gone through in the 17 years before it took place. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the capitalists of the North emerged triumphant. They went on the offensive, bitterly opposing labor’s demands. By the time the depression of 1873 took place, any lingering unity between the different forces which had united in opposition to slavery had been torn apart.

On Saturday, July 21, 1877, 17 workers involved in a nationwide railroad strike were shot dead in Pittsburgh. The next day, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, a New York Protestant minister who had been one of the most eloquent orators against slavery, preached these words:

“God had intended the great to be great and the little to be little…The trade unions, originated under the European system, destroy liberty…I do not say that a dollar a day is enough to support a man and five children if he insists on smoking and drinking beer…[b]ut the man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live.”

The 1882 labor parade was the culmination of more than ten years of agitating and organizing by dedicated labor activists in New York. These activists were deeply committed to the fight for the eight-hour day and against the repressive tactics of the employers. They also worked closely with the leaders of what were at that time New York’s largest immigrant communities to assist the fight for justice in three countries: Ireland, France and Germany.

The 1882 parade took place in a city which had seen militiamen open fire on Irish-American Catholic demonstrators in 1871; where thousands demonstrated for the eight-hour day in 1872; and where three demonstrations had already taken place in 1882 to demand justice for Ireland in its fight against British rule. (All three demonstrations had been jointly sponsored by labor organizations and organizations fighting for Irish freedom.)

Because the 1882 labor parade was held on a work day, most of the participants had to give up a day’s pay in order to march. (The CLU even levied a fine on non-participants.) In all, the workers involved forfeited about $75,000 in lost wages.

The parade was scheduled to coincide with a national conference of the Knights of Labor being held in New York. This explains why almost the entire national leadership of the Knights of Labor was present on the parade’s reviewing stand in Union Square. However, the affiliation of these leaders with the Knights of Labor was discreetly hidden from the press that day. (At the time, the Knights of Labor was still a semi-secret society.) For instance, the top leader of the Knights of Labor – “Grand Master Workman” Terence Powderly – was introduced only as the mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania (which he was).

The vibrant character of the labor movement of that time can be seen by looking at three extraordinary people present on the reviewing stand at the 1882 parade:

Patrick Ford was the publisher and editor of the Irish World, a newspaper which strongly supported labor and the fight for Irish freedom. He had been brought to Boston from Ireland in 1842 at the age of seven. Ford had served his printing apprenticeship with newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison, America’s leading opponent of slavery, before the Civil War. In 1870, Ford founded the Irish World, a newspaper which was regularly suppressed when it was shipped to Ireland.

John Swinton was the chief editorial writer of the New York Sun. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he had moved to New York in 1850 and worked as a printer and became an abolitionist. Swinton had been with John Brown when he made his famous raid on Osawatomie, Kansas in 1857. Swinton would go on to start his own pro-labor newspaper in 1883.

Carl Daniel Adolf Douai was the publisher and editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung, a socialist German-language daily. Douai was a German immigrant who had been threatened with lynching when he spoke out against slavery while publishing in Texas. In 1860, he moved to New York where he became active in socialist, abolitionist, and Republican Party activities.

The presence of these three men on the reviewing stand – and the presence of Irish, French, and German flags (in addition to the U.S. flag) at the picnic which closed the day – illustrates the wide scope of labor’s concerns at that time. These leaders’ involvement with the parade (and the militant banners carried by the marchers) show that from its very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has been about more than just getting its members a few cents more an hour in wages. From its inception, the labor movement in this country has included both native and foreign-born leaders and immigrant workers have always played an important role in the labor movement. From the very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has included elements who have not been afraid to challenge the legitimacy of the wages system itself.

That’s definitely worth remembering this Labor Day.

This article first appeared in Fight Back! on Sept. 3, 2011

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #LaborDay #tradeUnion

Los Angeles, CA – Thousands of enthusiastic union members united for a great march and rally in the heart of the historical Wilmington Chicano community, Sept 3.

Held near the port of San Pedro, the annual Long Beach/San Pedro labor march and rally was led by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union wearing their “Remember Bloody Thursday” t-shirts. Steelworkers, carpenters, laborers, machinists, ship scalers and many more union contingents with families, youth, and high school bands marched.

Also present was a loud contingent from United teachers of LA (UTLA). Public school teachers from the Los Angeles Unified School District carried a banner. They were greeted by the crowd with cheers of support. Marching with UTLA was Carlos Montes, an organizer with Centro CSO, calling for solidarity with teachers’ struggle to defend and promote public education.

UTLA members recently voted for a strike authorization, with 98% voting yes.

#LosAngelesCA #UnitedTeachersOfLosAngeles #LaborDay #CentroCSO #PublicSectorUnions #Strikes #UTLA #TeachersUnions

The huge procession began with 400 members of Bricklayers Union No. 6, all dressed in white aprons. They were followed by a band and then the members of the Manufacturing Jewelers union. The jewelers marched four abreast, wearing derby hats and dark suits with buttonhole bouquets. They all carried canes resting on their shoulders (similar to the way infantry officers carry swords when on parade.)

As the day went on, the parade included contingents from the Manufacturing Shoemakers Union No. 1 (wearing blue badges), and an especially well-received contingent from the Big 6 – Typographical Union No. 6 – whose 700-strong delegation marched with military precision (they had practiced beforehand.) The Friendly Society of Operative Masons marched with their band. They were followed by 250 members of the Clothing Cutters Benevolent and Protective Union, the Dress and Cloak Makers Union, the Decorative Masons, and the Bureau of United Carpenters (who marched with a decorated wagon).

The parade was filled with banners: “Labor Built the Republic – Labor Shall Rule It”; “To the Workers Should Belong the Wealth”; “Down with the Competitive System”; “Down with Convict Contract Labor”; “Down with the Railroad Monopoly”; and “Children in School and Not in Factories,” among others. The members of the Socialist Singing Society carried a red flag with a yellow lyre in its center. The banner which perhaps summed up the entire procession best was carried by members of the American Machinists, Engineers, and Blacksmiths Union (who wore heavy leather aprons and working clothes). It read simply: “Let Labor Unite.”

It was the first Labor Day parade – and it took place on a Tuesday.

Labor Day became official in this country when the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1894 making the first Monday in September a legal holiday. But this holiday was not simply given to the workers of the United States by the government as some act of charity. The tradition of publicly honoring labor’s contribution to society is a custom established by the workers themselves.

The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882. More than 10,000 workers marched. It was organized by the Central Labor Union, a body representing 60 unions and over 80,000 people. The CLU was a secret lodge of the Knights of Labor, the major national union of the time.

To really appreciate the September 1882 labor parade, it’s important to keep in mind the profound changes that this country had gone through in the 17 years before it took place. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the capitalists of the North emerged triumphant. They went on the offensive, bitterly opposing labor’s demands. By the time the depression of 1873 took place, any lingering unity between the different forces which had united in opposition to slavery had been torn apart.

On Saturday, July 21, 1877, 17 workers involved in a nationwide railroad strike were shot dead in Pittsburgh. The next day, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, a New York Protestant minister who had been one of the most eloquent orators against slavery, preached these words:

“God had intended the great to be great and the little to be little…The trade unions, originated under the European system, destroy liberty…I do not say that a dollar a day is enough to support a man and five children if he insists on smoking and drinking beer…[b]ut the man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live.”

The 1882 labor parade was the culmination of more than ten years of agitating and organizing by dedicated labor activists in New York. These activists were deeply committed to the fight for the eight-hour day and against the repressive tactics of the employers. They also worked closely with the leaders of what were at that time New York’s largest immigrant communities to assist the fight for justice in three countries: Ireland, France and Germany.

The 1882 parade took place in a city which had seen militiamen open fire on Irish-American Catholic demonstrators in 1871; where thousands demonstrated for the eight-hour day in 1872; and where three demonstrations had already taken place in 1882 to demand justice for Ireland in its fight against British rule. (All three demonstrations had been jointly sponsored by labor organizations and organizations fighting for Irish freedom.)

Because the 1882 labor parade was held on a work day, most of the participants had to give up a day’s pay in order to march. (The CLU even levied a fine on non-participants.) In all, the workers involved forfeited about $75,000 in lost wages.

The parade was scheduled to coincide with a national conference of the Knights of Labor being held in New York. This explains why almost the entire national leadership of the Knights of Labor was present on the parade’s reviewing stand in Union Square. However, the affiliation of these leaders with the Knights of Labor was discreetly hidden from the press that day. (At the time, the Knights of Labor was still a semi-secret society.) For instance, the top leader of the Knights of Labor – “Grand Master Workman” Terence Powderly – was introduced only as the mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania (which he was).

The vibrant character of the labor movement of that time can be seen by looking at three extraordinary people present on the reviewing stand at the 1882 parade:

Patrick Ford was the publisher and editor of the Irish World, a newspaper which strongly supported labor and the fight for Irish freedom. He had been brought to Boston from Ireland in 1842 at the age of seven. Ford had served his printing apprenticeship with newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison, America’s leading opponent of slavery, before the Civil War. In 1870, Ford founded the Irish World, a newspaper which was regularly suppressed when it was shipped to Ireland.

John Swinton was the chief editorial writer of the New York Sun. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he had moved to New York in 1850 and worked as a printer and became an abolitionist. Swinton had been with John Brown when he made his famous raid on Osawatomie, Kansas in 1857. Swinton would go on to start his own pro-labor newspaper in 1883.

Carl Daniel Adolf Douai was the publisher and editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung, a socialist German-language daily. Douai was a German immigrant who had been threatened with lynching when he spoke out against slavery while publishing in Texas. In 1860, he moved to New York where he became active in socialist, abolitionist, and Republican Party activities.

The presence of these three men on the reviewing stand – and the presence of Irish, French, and German flags (in addition to the U.S. flag) at the picnic which closed the day – illustrates the wide scope of labor’s concerns at that time. These leaders’ involvement with the parade (and the militant banners carried by the marchers) show that from its very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has been about more than just getting its members a few cents more an hour in wages. From its inception, the labor movement in this country has included both native and foreign-born leaders and immigrant workers have always played an important role in the labor movement. From the very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has included elements who have not been afraid to challenge the legitimacy of the wages system itself.

That’s definitely worth remembering this Labor Day.

This article first appeared in Fight Back! on Sept. 3, 2011

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #unions #LaborDay

Workers in and around the Milwaukee area, from both union and non-union backgrounds came together in solidarity, remembering labor's victories in the past, and taking a hard look at the challenges of the future.

Hundreds gathered before the formal parade to support the Fight for 15 campaign in front of Aurora Sinai Hospital. Workers there, many of whom have more than a decade of service make less than $15 an hour, though they are responsible for the health and sanitation of one of the largest hospitals in the city.

Tracey Schwerdtfeger, a union certified nursing assistant from another Milwaukee hospital, made the connection between the labor movement and the national liberation movements in her speech.

“We know the same group of people who try to keep our wages low and don't care about our health and safety are the same people who support policies of ripping apart families through deportations and not holding police accountable for murdering a Black person every 28 hours,” Schwerdtfeger said.

After the rally, a parade, which numbered around 10,000, proceeded to the Summerfest grounds for a Labor Day celebration that included music and even a pro-labor professional wrestling match.

The numbers reflect a continuing commitment by workers across Wisconsin to fight against corporate greed and concessions to the rich, and to organize for higher wages and better working conditions for all working people. Enormous handouts to the rich are being voted on in the state government to supposedly sweeten the pot for a Foxconn manufacturing facility, with no guarantee of decent pay or benefits for the supposed jobs that would be created. Despite all the attacks over the last seven years by Governor Scott walker and his corporate backers against workers’ rights, the spirit of resistance is alive and well in the Badger state.

#MilwaukeeWI #LaborDay

Los Angeles, CA – On the morning of Sept. 7, Labor Day, hundreds of union members and families joined together, in LA’s Wilmington Community, to celebrate unions and the working class. Many members from a host of trade unions talked about past victories in contracts and recent organizing drives.

The event was organized by the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Labor Coalition. The Coalition is comprised of port workers with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), different Teamster locals, as well as other unions including, SEIU and the Unified Teachers Los Angeles.

People marched through the neighborhood of Wilmington – a historic working-class Chicano neighborhood and home to port workers in Los Angeles. Marchers waved banners and signs and drove decorated tractor trailers through the street. The march ended at Banning Park, where people gathered to hear speakers, enjoy food, listen to live music and watch traditional Mexican dancing.

Speaking about the Labor Day event and the recent ILWU struggle, Carol Villeda, a local teacher with the Unified Teachers Los Angeles, said, “Lots more folks participating today, and it's been nice to see the ILWU grow and win.”

The Labor Day event is held yearly and unites local unions to honor past struggles and to celebrate new union victories.

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #SEIU #LaborDay #PublicSectorUnions

Chicago, IL – In the largest labor rally here in at least 30 years, tens of thousands of teachers, parents and community and trade union supporters rallied on Labor Day in preparation for a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), if Chicago Public School (CPS) doesn’t meet their demands.

CTU has been in contract negotiations with the school board since November 2011. Teachers have been without a contract since June of this year after the five-year agreement with the district expired without a new one in place. Issues included the lengthening of the school day, testing and class sizes. Then the school board rescinded the 4% raise scheduled for June 30 in the CTU contract.

“CPS seems determined to have a toxic relationship with its employees,” Karen Lewis, CTU president, said. “They denied us our 4% raises when there was money in the budget to honor our agreement; they attempted to ram a poorly thought out longer school day down our throats; and, on top of that they want us to teach a new curriculum and be ready to be evaluated based on how well our students do on a standardized test. It has been insult after insult after insult. Enough is enough.”

At the Labor Day rally, Lewis also called Mayor Rahm Emanuel “a liar and a bully” in her remarks, and said, “The only way to beat a bully is to stand up to a bully.” CTU is going forward with their plans to strike on Monday, Sept. 10. This will be the first teachers strike since 1987.

The entire trade union movement is behind the Chicago teachers in their struggle for better schools, smaller classes and better pay. Also, many parents are joining Parents For Teachers, because they know that it is the teachers who have the interest of the children at heart, not Rahm Emanuel and the class of bankers he represents.

According to Sarah Chambers, a member of the union bargaining committee, “Parents are frustrated by the mayor and his decisions, like the increase in class sizes.” Chambers said further, “The children of the school board and the mayor attend private schools. Parents realize that the teachers, not the school board, are for the students.”

#ChicagoIL #LaborDay #ChicagoTeachersUnion #teachersStrike #TeachersUnions

The story asserted that “decades of contractual promises made to unionized workers” had brought the Postal Service to the point of defaulting on a $5.5 billion payment due Sept. 30, and possibly shutting down entirely this winter.

The Times detailed the drastic cuts proposed by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe: No more Saturday delivery, closure of 3700 post offices and 300 sorting facilities nationwide, elimination of 220,000 jobs. Most of these moves require Congressional approval and the threatened shutdown was clearly supposed to help Congress make up its mind.

What wasn’t mentioned in the article: The $5.5 billion payment in question is part of a bizarre requirement imposed upon the USPS by Congress five years ago to prefund its retiree health benefits 75 years in advance over a ten-year period. In effect, the Postal Service is paying for the retirement of workers who haven’t even been born yet, let alone hired. Imagine the outcry if the feds made similar demands on private businesses!

Also unmentioned by the Times: Donahoe’s announcement came just as the post office was scheduled to enter contract negotiations with the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Forking over those annual $5.5 billion payments has cost the USPS $20 billion in operating losses over the past four years. Without them, the Postal Service would still be in the black, despite a big falloff in mail volume when the economy went south three years ago.

If Congress was serious about preventing the drastic service cutbacks Donahoe has proposed, there’s an obvious solution: End the prefunding requirement.

For those who hope to strip postal workers of their union rights, however, the prospect of a default presents a golden opportunity.

Representative Darrell Issa is the chair of the House Committee on Government Operations. Strictly speaking, the USPS is not a government operation and it receives no federal funds. Still, Issa’s committee is charged with overseeing it.

As a young man, according to a January profile in the New Yorker, Issa was busted twice for auto theft . Both times he managed to escape prosecution. Today he is the richest member of the House, having made a fortune in the car alarm business.

Issa has proposed a bill that would require the Postal Service to cut its expenses by $3 billion a year. If it failed to do so, its affairs would be put in the hands of a politically appointed commission with the power to scrap its collective bargaining agreements and slash wages and benefits.

I don’t know that the Postmaster General wants Issa’s bill to pass. I do know that he’s employing the same strategy. He’s using an essentially manufactured crisis to apply the screws to his work force.

To an alarming extent, the media is buying the story. The New York Times makes an issue of the fact that labor costs account for 80% of USPS expenses, “compared with 53% at United Parcel Service and 32% at FedEx, its two biggest private competitors.”

It’s a meaningless comparison. Neither FedEx nor UPS is charged with maintaining a universal service network, a task that requires human labor. When its customers need to ship to a location it doesn’t handle, UPS typically contracts with the Postal Service for “last mile” delivery. Unlike FedEx, the Postal Service does not sink a big chunk of its revenues into maintaining its own fleet of planes. It does not spend millions lobbying Congress, investing in other businesses or paying off stockholders. Whatever money it makes is ploughed back into operations.

And, for what it’s worth, there’s no significant difference in pay and benefits between the Postal Service and UPS, whose drivers are under Teamster contract. Despite a 30-year-old no-layoff clause in its union contracts, the USPS has managed to reduce its work force by nearly 30% in the past ten years. In my district, there’s a hiring freeze which has left some offices so understaffed that veteran carriers are routinely required to work 60-hour weeks.

Retiring workers are not replaced – or if they are, it’s with ‘transitional employees’ who enjoy rudimentary union protection but have no benefits, job security, seniority or bidding rights. Supposedly hired as a temporary expedient when the post office was introducing new mail sorting machinery, the “TEs” have emerged as a permanent feature of the postal work force and spend years vainly waiting for promotion to career status. They can be laid off at any time.

In the private sector, ‘downsizing’ is considered good business strategy, and ‘leaner, meaner’ companies are the ones that attract investors. Typically, what’s involved is the shift of capital from productive parts of the economy to the financial sector, where few workers are employed but the profit margins are enormous – or used to be, before the Wall Street meltdown of fall 2008.

The social costs of business downsizing are enormous, but there’s a certain crazy logic to it: under capitalism, businesses exist to make money. But downsizing the Postal Service makes no sense at all. For all the politicians’ prattle about the USPS needing a new “business model,” the post office isn’t really a business. It’s a public service, mandated by the U.S. Constitution. It reaches every household and business address in the country; its universal service network, built up over two centuries, is as much a part of the nation’s infrastructure as our interstate highways or public schools.

But its workers are unionized, so it’s fair game. Just as our public schools are being crippled as scarce tax dollars are diverted into corporate-run, non-union charter schools, reactionary forces in Congress are hell-bent on compromising the nation’s mail service beyond repair as the necessary price of busting the postal unions. In the process, the public is being robbed of a vital public service, and the right of all workers to union protection is further undermined.

Sept. 30 is the deadline for the USPS to make the $5.5 billion payment Congress demands. On Sept. 27, the four postal unions will be demonstrating at local Congressional offices across the country in an effort to get the truth out. Go to saveamericaspostalservice.org to find out where the demonstration in your area will be happening. Then come out and join it – to keep the mail moving and to stand with the brothers and sisters who move it.

Peter Shapiro is a retired member of National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 82 and is active in Jobs with Justice.

#UnitedStates #UPS #LaborDay #unionBusting #postOffice #postalService #RepresentativeDarrellIssa #PostmasterGeneralPatrickDonahoe #FedEx #USPS #NationalAssociationOfLetterCarriersBranch82 #JobsWithJustice

As the day went on, the parade included contingents from the Manufacturing Shoemakers Union No. 1 (wearing blue badges), and an especially well-received contingent from the Big 6 – Typographical Union No. 6 – whose 700-strong delegation marched with military precision (they had practiced beforehand.) The Friendly Society of Operative Masons marched with their band. They were followed by 250 members of the Clothing Cutters Benevolent and Protective Union, the Dress and Cloak Makers Union, the Decorative Masons, and the Bureau of United Carpenters (who marched with a decorated wagon).

The parade was filled with banners: “Labor Built the Republic – Labor Shall Rule It”; “To the Workers Should Belong the Wealth”; “Down with the Competitive System”; “Down with Convict Contract Labor”; “Down with the Railroad Monopoly”; and “Children in School and Not in Factories,” among others. The members of the Socialist Singing Society carried a red flag with a yellow lyre in its center. The banner which perhaps summed up the entire procession best was carried by members of the American Machinists, Engineers, and Blacksmiths Union (who wore heavy leather aprons and working clothes). It read simply: “Let Labor Unite.”

It was the first Labor Day parade – and it took place on a Tuesday.

Labor Day became official in this country when the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1894 making the first Monday in September a legal holiday. But this holiday was not simply given to the workers of the United States by the government as some act of charity. The tradition of publicly honoring labor’s contribution to society is a custom established by the workers themselves.

The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882. More than 10,000 workers marched. It was organized by the Central Labor Union, a body representing 60 unions and over 80,000 people. The CLU was a secret lodge of the Knights of Labor, the major national union of the time.

To really appreciate the September 1882 labor parade, it’s important to keep in mind the profound changes that this country had gone through in the 17 years before it took place. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the capitalists of the North emerged triumphant. They went on the offensive, bitterly opposing labor’s demands. By the time the depression of 1873 took place, any lingering unity between the different forces which had united in opposition to slavery had been torn apart.

On Saturday, July 21, 1877, 17 workers involved in a nationwide railroad strike were shot dead in Pittsburgh. The next day, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, a New York Protestant minister who had been one of the most eloquent orators against slavery, preached these words:

“God had intended the great to be great and the little to be little…The trade unions, originated under the European system, destroy liberty…I do not say that a dollar a day is enough to support a man and five children if he insists on smoking and drinking beer…[b]ut the man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live.”

The 1882 labor parade was the culmination of more than ten years of agitating and organizing by dedicated labor activists in New York. These activists were deeply committed to the fight for the eight-hour day and against the repressive tactics of the employers. They also worked closely with the leaders of what were at that time New York’s largest immigrant communities to assist the fight for justice in three countries: Ireland, France and Germany.

The 1882 parade took place in a city which had seen militiamen open fire on Irish-American Catholic demonstrators in 1871; where thousands demonstrated for the eight-hour day in 1872; and where three demonstrations had already taken place in 1882 to demand justice for Ireland in its fight against British rule. (All three demonstrations had been jointly sponsored by labor organizations and organizations fighting for Irish freedom.)

Because the 1882 labor parade was held on a work day, most of the participants had to give up a day’s pay in order to march. (The CLU even levied a fine on non-participants.) In all, the workers involved forfeited about $75,000 in lost wages.

The parade was scheduled to coincide with a national conference of the Knights of Labor being held in New York. This explains why almost the entire national leadership of the Knights of Labor was present on the parade’s reviewing stand in Union Square. However, the affiliation of these leaders with the Knights of Labor was discreetly hidden from the press that day. (At the time, the Knights of Labor was still a semi-secret society.) For instance, the top leader of the Knights of Labor – “Grand Master Workman” Terence Powderly – was introduced only as the mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania (which he was).

The vibrant character of the labor movement of that time can be seen by looking at three extraordinary people present on the reviewing stand at the 1882 parade:

Patrick Ford was the publisher and editor of the Irish World, a newspaper which strongly supported labor and the fight for Irish freedom. He had been brought to Boston from Ireland in 1842 at the age of seven. Ford had served his printing apprenticeship with newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison, America’s leading opponent of slavery, before the Civil War. In 1870, Ford founded the Irish World, a newspaper which was regularly suppressed when it was shipped to Ireland.

John Swinton was the chief editorial writer of the New York Sun. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he had moved to New York in 1850 and worked as a printer and became an abolitionist. Swinton had been with John Brown when he made his famous raid on Osawatomie, Kansas in 1857. Swinton would go on to start his own pro-labor newspaper in 1883.

Carl Daniel Adolf Douai was the publisher and editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung, a socialist German-language daily. Douai was a German immigrant who had been threatened with lynching when he spoke out against slavery while publishing in Texas. In 1860, he moved to New York where he became active in socialist, abolitionist, and Republican Party activities.

The presence of these three men on the reviewing stand – and the presence of Irish, French, and German flags (in addition to the U.S. flag) at the picnic which closed the day – illustrates the wide scope of labor’s concerns at that time. These leaders’ involvement with the parade (and the militant banners carried by the marchers) show that from its very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has been about more than just getting its members a few cents more an hour in wages. From its inception, the labor movement in this country has included both native and foreign-born leaders and immigrant workers have always played an important role in the labor movement. From the very beginning, the U.S. labor movement has included elements who have not been afraid to challenge the legitimacy of the wages system itself.

That’s definitely worth remembering this Labor Day.

#UnitedStates #LaborDay #history

The protest began with a rally at a shopping center in East San Jose, home to tens of thousands of Latino and Asian immigrants. Rally speakers included a Catholic priest, a Latino state assemblyman, community activists and a group of youthful singers and musicians. The march started small, with only a couple of thousand people, but grew to 10,000 or more by the end as people joined in along the way. Stores could be seen with posters announcing the rally and community organizers had handed out flyers to galvanize a grassroots turnout for that day.

While the San Jose march was one of the largest in the entire United States, unions, along with many immigrant rights organizations and Asian American community groups in San Jose did not endorse or mobilize for the event. While a broad united front for immigrant rights was seen inside the Latino community that day, trade unionists, immigrant rights activists and Asian American community organizers need to do more to educate and mobilize their organizations to join the Latino community to form a more powerful movement for immigrant rights.

#SanJoséCA #SanJoseCA #News #ChicanoLatino #immigrantRights #LaborDay #SensenbrennerBill

The rally began in Castillo Park then marched through the largely Latino immigrant neighborhood with chants of “¡Sí Se Puede!” (“Yes We Can!”), and “¿Que queremos? – ¡Legalización!” (“What do we want? Legalization!”). In Castillo Park, various speakers stood in front of a banner saying “Immigrant Rights are Workers' Rights”, and encouraged marchers to continue the struggle for equality for immigrant workers and workers' rights for all. According to Maria Peña of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAC), “I feel it was important and strategic to pick Labor Day for this mobilization. Immigrants are one part of the working class that is under attack, and because there are also other workers under attack, that's a point in common that can give rise to working class solidarity.”

The march was organized by the MN Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAC) and the Alliance for Fair Immigration Reform (AFFIRM) together with unions including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3800, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 789, UNITE-HERE, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) at Northwest Airlines, who are in a sharp fight with Northwest and may go on strike as soon as next week, also organized a contingent of flight attendants to participate. They came in their bright green “CHAOS” t-shirts. CHAOS stands for “Create Havoc Around Our System” and is the AFA's strike strategy to defeat Northwest Airlines' concessions. AFA also had their own rally later in the day to mobilize their members and build support for their possible strike.

The immigrant and workers' rights march was initially supposed to be part of the annual Labor Day picnic that is usually organized by the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly, the coalition of all the unions in St. Paul. But the Assembly cancelled their picnic less than a month before the date, claiming they didn't have the money pull it off. Some insiders say that money ran short because of lost income due to last year's split in the AFL-CIO. Many believe the demands for immigrant workers' rights was also a factor in some of the more conservative unions pulling away. The immigrant rights groups decided to go ahead with the immigrant and workers' rights march anyway, and many individual unions participated in the march despite the Trades & Labor Assembly dropping their official support.

According to AFSCME Local 3800 Vice President Cherrene Horazuk, “It was unfortunate that St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly cancelled the Labor Day Picnic. It caused the mainstream media to talk about it as a sign of how weak labor is. In place of the traditional Labor Day Picnic, however, two great rallies were organized by unions and immigrant rights groups engaged in struggle. The future of the labor movement is in these groups who are fighting back against corporate greed and the global policies that attempt to pit workers in the US against workers in other countries. The unity of immigrant groups and labor unions marching together on Labor Day was incredibly inspiring.”

The march was primarily Mexican and Latin American, but included many U.S.-born workers and people of other nationalities as well. Speakers included Francisco Segovia of MIRAC, Javier Morillo of SEIU, Don Seaquist of UFCW, as well as representatives from other communities such American Indian Movement youth organizer Jason Firewolf, Palestinian-American Anti-War Committee member Sabry Wazwaz, and Somali Muslim Imam Hassan Mohamud.

A large group of Latino workers from outstate Minnesota came to the rally by bus with Centro Campesino, an organization that works in Southern Minnesota towns with large Latino concentrations. They carried signs that said “Moratorium Now!” and “Permanent residency is the way”. Marta Portillo and her family drove two and a half hours from St James, MN to attend the rally. She said, “We came because we consider the demands just and we are part of this community. Legalization is just. It's a human right. I think the march was successful.”

Two important individual cases were highlighted at the rally. Elvira Arellano addressed the rally via a phone hookup from Chicago. Arellano is a national symbol of the immigrant rights movement. She has taken sanctuary in a Chicago church, to resist deportation orders that would separate her from her son, who is a U.S. citizen. Her struggle has put a human face on the struggle for legalization, and has catalyzed the movement nationally to call for a moratorium on deportations. According to Maria Peña, “The fact that there was a direct message from Elvira Arellano, who is a symbol of resistance, added a lot to the march today. It put women up front. The movement is becoming more conscious and this march had an important reflection of women being more visible.”

Silvia Ibañez spoke from the María Iñamagua Campaign for Justice. María Iñamagua was an Ecuadorian immigrant in Minneapolis who died while in custody awaiting deportation. She had complained of severe headaches while in custody and was ignored for weeks, until she died in custody. The campaign won a recent victory when the federal government agreed to investigate her death.

Speaking of the relations between immigrant workers and the unions, MIRAC member Francisco Segovia said, “It's very interesting that it has fallen to immigrants to start a new page in the history of workers in this country. The new workers are an essential base of the economy. The life of the unions depends on their ability to understand this situation. I think the traditional unions have to understand that conditions have changed and they will be left behind if they don't learn and understand the new dynamic. Because the working class will continue to move forward.”

MIRAC member Erika Zurawski said, “Focusing on the struggle of immigrant workers on Labor Day was important. Immigrant workers reclaimed May Day on May 1, and today immigrant workers led the way on Labor Day too, after the citywide union officials cancelled their Labor Day event. Immigrant workers are revitalizing the struggle for equality and workers' rights for all in the US.”

The Twin Cities immigrant rights movement is planning another action for September 30, a week before Congress adjourns. September 30 is a national day of action called by the recently-formed National Alliance for Immigrant Rights (NAIR), to send a message to Congress to not pass anti-immigrant legislation at the end of the session.

#StPaulMN #SaintPaulMN #ChicanoLatino #immigrantRights #LaborDay #workersRights #MIRAc

The resolution urges union members and their families to join the protest. The vote to endorse the rally was taken at July meeting of the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, which represents more than 30,000 union members in the East Metro area of the Twin Cities.

Phyllis Walker, President of AFSCME Local 3800, was at the meeting that passed the resolution of endorsement. Walker said, “On Labor Day, all union members and their families have an excellent opportunity to come together with a broad range of community groups and movements to call for an end to the war in Iraq, for the troops to be brought home now and for the funds used for this war to instead be used to meet human needs.”

The September 1st march, organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, brings citizens together on these issues: “U.S. Out of Iraq Now! · Money for human needs, not for war · Say no to the Republican Agenda · Demand peace, justice and equality.”

Plans call for a rally at the State Capitol building at 11:00 am, followed by a march past the Xcel Energy Center, site of the Republican Convention. The march will return to the State Capitol.

Walker said, “The coalition urges union members, their families and friends to join the Labor Day march. Bring your union signs and banners and help send a message for peace and justice on the opening day of the RNC.”

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #Labor #News #Iraq #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #bringTheTroopsHome #warInIraq #LaborDay #moneyForHumanNeedsNotWar