Parades, Politics Proliferate as Americans Take Day Off

Many of America’s workers took the day off Monday, enjoying the end of a long Labor Day weekend and the unofficial demise of summer. Parading union supporters called for solidarity and politicians used the occasion to plug programs and criticize opponents.

There were also non-labor annual traditions, like the mass walk across Michigan’s 4 1/2-mile Mackinac Bridge, and the Fred Coleman Memorial Shoot, a pigeon shoot at Hegins, Pa., that drew animal rights protesters.

About 40,000 people in downtown Pittsburgh, Pa., watched the 102nd United Labor Day Parade, which lasted at least three hours. Spectators applauded as 18 marching bands and 6 drum, bugle and baton corps went past. More than 95 union locals also marched.

At the first Labor Day parade in Philadelphia, Kim Long, 11, daughter of an Eastern Airlines machinist, sold buttons bearing a symbol denouncing former chairman Frank Lorenzo. In Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., about 1,500 striking employees of Eastern were among the marchers in a parade sponsored by the Broward County AFL-CIO.

In Texas, politics was the focus of an early kickoff event for the 1990 Texas gubernatorial campaign. Democratic hopefuls Treasurer Ann Richards and state Atty. Gen. Jim Mattox set aside time to appear at state Sen. Carl Parker’s fourth annual Labor Day picnic in the southeast Texas city of Beaumont.

Politics also was in the air in Manchester, N.H., where Ohio Gov. Richard F. Celeste used a Labor Day appearance to blast President Bush for his handling of domestic and foreign labor issues. The two-term Democrat told the state AFL-CIO Labor Day breakfast that Bush has shown a lack of leadership by avoiding involvement in the Eastern Airlines and Pittston Coal strikes and by his failure to provide more financial support for the new Solidarity government in Poland.

New York Parade

The Big Apple’s 108th Labor Day parade sponsored by the New York Labor Council kicked off at 11 a.m. with a march up 5th Avenue from 44th Street to 72nd Street.

David N. Dinkins, the Manhattan borough president who wants to unseat Edward I. Koch as mayor, took a leading role in the annual tribute to New York’s working men and women, leading off the march with Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, city dignitaries and labor officials. More than 400 local unions representing nearly 1.5 million members took part in the parade.

Also marching in the parade were supporters of the Polish union Solidarity carrying banners reading: “Help Poland Now.”

Steve Early, a spokesman for the Communications Workers of America, said talks between the telephone workers and New England Telephone’s parent company, NYNEX Corp., continued on the holiday.

Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard and his bride, married Saturday, led about 60,000 people on the traditional Labor Day trek across the Mackinac Bridge.

In Pennsylvania, about 400 animal rights activists marched, chanted and screamed at competitors in the 55th annual Fred Coleman Memorial Shoot. Birds were released one at a time from cages about 20 yards in front of competitors with shotguns. Organizers of the community fund-raiser had 6,000 birds on hand.

Community members said the event is a place for family fellowship. Between volleys, children are sent to collect dead birds and dispatch wounded ones. “You have to be a sportsman to understand,” said Keith Wolfgang, who has attended the event for 12 years.

LABOR’S MISSION

UMW President Richard Trumka says labor’s mission should be a rebellion against the “anti-worker” philosophy of the 1980s. Metro, Page 1