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Labor Day Parade marches September 5- New Route

Bloomington’s annual Labor Day Parade marches Monday, September 5, 10 a.m., from East Grove and Gridley Streets in downtown Bloomington, to Miller Park. This year’s theme is “A Legacy worth fighting for,” a salute to the 70th anniversary of social welfare and human rights programs contained in Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

“Social Security, the right to organize a union, minimum wage laws, overtime protection, these are all legacies left us by far-sighted Americans 70 years ago,” said Bloomington & Normal Trades & Labor Assembly President Ronald Morehead. “People fought hard to establish these rights and programs, our generation should insure they are not destroyed.”

The Parade will feature high school marching bands, unit and floats from local unions, community organizations, elected officials and heavy construction equipment.

The Parade begins lining up at 9 a.m. at East Grove and Gridley Streets. The Parade will go South on Gridley Street to Wood Street and then west on Wood Street to Miller Park. The parade route is being changed because of construction on Lee Street.

To participate in the parade, groups must register with the Trades & Labor Assembly, by calling 309-828-8813 or writing P.O. Box 3396, Bloomington, IL 61702-3396 for registration materials. Parade participants must be pre-registered and must agree to abide by parade rules.

In formulating the Parade theme, local union delegates looked at the programs of the Roosevelt Administration. Roosevelt died 60 years ago this year. In 1935 both Social Security, with its protection for the elderly and disabled, passed, as did the National Labor Relations Act, which gave workers a legal right to organize a union.

Social Security is currently under intensive discussion in Washington, D.C., with President George W. Bush’s administration wanting to privatize accounts. The AFL-CIO and other organizations have challenged this, calling instead for an intensive effort to revitalize the current system.

The National Labor Relations Board still affords workers a right to organize, but those rights have been weakened through legislative and court rulings. According to the AFL-CIO, worker rights are regularly ignored during union representation efforts. The AFL-CIO says that 92 percent of private-sector employers force employees to attend mandatory closed-door meetings against the union; 51 percent of private-sector companies threaten to close their facilities if workers win their union; 25 percent of private-sector employers illegally fire workers during organizing campaigns; and, 40 percent of private-sector employers do not agree to a first contract within two years. While 57 million workers say they would vote to form a union tomorrow if given the chance, only 80,000 actually did so through the NLRB election process last year.

The Labor Federation is pressing for the Employee Free Choice Act, to give workers renewed rights to organize and end firing and coercion of workers attempting to exercise their rights.