Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog

Working People Celebrate Labor Day Statewide

 
Wisconsinites celebrated Labor Day at car shows, picnics, parades, solidarity walks and festivals across the state to honor the working men and women of Wisconsin.  

This year’s Labor Day saw an increased level of solidarity as workers continue to come together with community members, students and people of faith like never before to fight the unprecedented political attacks waged by politicians who are determined to put corporate interest above the local needs of communities and middle class Wisconsinites.

Julie Clark, a high school Spanish teacher in the Milwaukee Public School system was at Milwaukee’s annual Laborfest celebration:

“This is a great family friendly event to celebrate working people.  We come every year but it is even more important this year that we stand strong and stand together.  Teachers are here and will continue to put their students first and do what’s best for the education of our state’s children.” 

The streets of Wausau were packed with thousands of parade watchers as the Marathon County Labor Council hosted the annual Wausau parade.  Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Phil Neuenfeldt and President of the Wisconsin Professional Fire Fighters Association, Mahlon Mitchell, were in Wausau to march alongside their brothers and sisters in the Northwoods.  Local children dressed up in Halloween costumes for the annual costume contest. 

In downtown Milwaukee an estimated 10,000 marched along Wisconsin Avenue to the Summerfest grounds at Maier Festival Park.  Like many Labor Day celebrations across the state brats, hotdogs and union made beer were plentiful.  Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Stephanie Bloomingdale was in attendance with her two sons. 

In Eau Claire union and community members held a solidarity walk before the annual Labor Day picnic at Phoenix Park.  The solidarity march began from 5 different locations and came together at the park.  Canned goods and non-perishables were collected for the area’s hungry in order to give back to the community. 

Politics were on display this year as many parade marchers held Blue Fist "Stand with Wisconsin," “Support Middle Class Workers,” “I am a teacher,” “Recall Walker,” “I Love my Public Schools,” and “Jobs Now” signs and t-shirts.  These messages reflect the poor choices Gov. Walker and Republican politicians have made to scapegoat middle class workers for an economic crisis they did not create. 

Moving forward one thing is clear:  Wisconsinites want politicians to put politics aside and focus on creating and sustaining family-supporting jobs for our middle class. 

 

To learn about the history of Labor Day, visit: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

 

The Fond du Lac County Labor Council; the Fox Valley Area Labor Council; the Greater West Central Area Labor Council; the Greater Green Bay Area Labor Council; the Kenosha AFL-CIO Central Labor Council; the Marathon County Central Labor Council; the Marinette Central Labor Council; the Milwaukee Area Labor Council; the Racine AFL-CIO Council; the Rock County Central Labor Council; the South Central Federation of Labor; the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO; the Winnebago County Labor Council; and the Wood County Central Labor Council each hosted local Labor Day events.

For pictures of statewide Labor Day events visit the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Labor Day 2011 collection by clicking here.

A Labor Day Message from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

The following is a Labor Day message from Phil Neuenfeldt, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO:

 

1. Labor Day is a time to recognize and celebrate the hardworking men and women who make our country great.

While we honor working men and women everywhere, we pay tribute to the union movement. The labor movement not only brought us the weekend, child labor protections and a safe work environment, but unions provide a necessary check on unbridled corporate greed and the power of corporate executives.

A check on corporate power is needed as the wealthiest 1% of the nation consolidates our country's wealth. Income inequality in America is growing at an alarming rate, especially for African-American and Hispanic households.

It's clear that our politicians are putting corporate profits above people. Wisconsin recently passed a budget that not only calls for devastating cuts to education and health care but raises taxes on the working poor while giving millions in tax giveaways to corporations.

This is not the way forward.

To move forward, we need to invest in us, Wisconsinites, as workers with education, training and infrastructure. We need to restore not only shared sacrifice but also shared prosperity. Let's close the unpatriotic tax loopholes for corporations and the super-rich so that everyone pays his or her fair share to fix the deficit.

To recover from economic distress our state needs not only more jobs, but good jobs, with living wages, workplace rights and freedom to organize labor unions.

We need to continue to take to the streets. Forty-eight years ago last week, a quarter of a million people took to the streets of Washington D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Justice.

This year, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites took to the streets for the same issues - family-supporting jobs, economic justice, a dignified work environment, the right to collectively bargain with your employer and a fair economy.

When we saw voter suppression laws, undemocratic redistricting maps, attacks on unions and an unpatriotic budget, the people of Wisconsin came together in an unprecedented show of solidarity.

We took to the streets, to the courts and to the ballot box to protect the middle class. While we may not have won every battle, we sent a strong message to Madison and to Washington: Attacks on democracy will not go unanswered.

On Labor Day, we celebrate all that we have accomplished and look ahead to the fight for fairness and economic equality.

This Labor Day we continue the movement that has been re-energized and reawakened and commit to fight for the rights of all workers, locally and globally.

This fight is for you.