Business Manager Christopher Erikson leads the Local 3 contingent up 5th avenue in the Labor Day Parade.
On a beautiful Saturday in September thousands of Local 3 members marched with their union brothers and sisters up 5th Avenue in another successful Labor Day å_Parade in New York City. Following the å_Local 3 Sword of Light Pipes and Drums Band and the officers of Local 3 led by Business Manager Christopher Erikson, thousands of union members and their families marched from 46th street up 5th Ave in what looked like a sea of this year’s colored pink hats. Members proudly wore the bright colored hats that were embroidered with a rendering of the å_Freedom Tower on what was a solemn weekend remembering the fifteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on å_September 11th when 17 Local 3 members did not return home to their families.
This year’s parade was led by Grand å_Marshall James Callahan, General President of the International Union of Operating Engineers and the parade Chair was Henry Garrido, Executive Director of AFSCME District Council 37. Officers and rank and file members of the IUOE and AFSCME with their families marched in steadfast solidarity at the front of the parade that included a political delegation of Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gary LaBarbera, head of the New York City Building and Construction Trades Council.
Local 3 members and their families arrived early in the day under the balloon arches on 46th street drinking sodas and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches handed out by the volunteers of Local 3 that work tirelessly each year to make the parade such a success. As the heat of the day rose in the afternoon, Local 3 stepped onto 5th Avenue and turned north proudly marching for the audience of spectators and tourists who were lined up on both sides of the street. Many members marched with placard signs and t-shirts that displayed the fight that the labor movement is in right now and expressing their support for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Local 3 marched past St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the grandstand where the Central Labor Council sets up. The pipes and drums echoed off the tall buildings of 5th Avenue as the motorcycles roared passed the grandstand of waving spectators and retirees on what was a great day for the labor movement.
The parade is a solid example to others not familiar with organized labor’s effort to advance the cause of the American worker. It is a day where union members can show their strength in numbers to a city which is growing more and more apart from a unionized workforce. The parade exemplifies the effort to continue the traditions and history of the organized labor movement in New York City and what can happen when different trades and unions with a common goal unite for a brighter future.
Congratulations on a job well done to the all the members of Local 3 who help to make the Labor Day Parade a consistent success!
The following are all the photos taken at the 2016 Labor Day Parade:
[AFG_gallery id='17']
