Photo: Signs at Pittsburgh Labor Parade

Pittsburgh’s Labor Day:
Showing Our Solidarity,
Organizing New Forces

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

If you want to get a good picture of the hard core of the Western Pennsylvania working class and its concerns, one of the best ways to do it is to take part in the annual Labor Day Parade on a gray and rainy Pittsburgh morning.

Pittsburgh is known as a town that takes its Labor Day parades seriously, with turnouts of upwards of 50,000, rivaled only by Detroit and New York City. This year’s Sept 7 event, which featured an appearance by Vice President Joseph Biden, was only a fraction of that, but still numbered in the thousands, with high spirits and an array of contingents.

The main political concerns of the day were passing the Employee Free Choice Act as a spur to unionization, along with health care reform leading to universal coverage. Many of the unions favored HR676 ‘Single Payer’ Medicare for All as the most effective solution. The purpose of it all? “Solidarity and bringing in new members,” said Teamster Carl Paullet, 75, of Ligonier, PA, to a local news reporter. Continue reading Beaver County Steelworkers at Labor Parade →