Posted Sep 4, 2012, 6:46 pm
Members of local labor unions and their families gathered at Reid Park on Monday to celebrate Labor Day.
Organizers estimate that about 1,200 people enjoyed food, music and the occasional speech from a local politician.
This year marks the 16th time the Pima Area Labor Federation has organized the event, said Sean Durns, the group's mobilization coordinator.
"It's people together with their families," he said while directing people to where the water and hot dogs were. "We're about working people and their families."
For Leon Sierra of the International Union of Operating Engineers, it is a day to remember the past.
"Labor Day, more than anything else, is being able to appreciate what our forefathers, our grandfathers, sacrificed for us" he said. "The individuals that were willing to die on the picket line to get the forty-hour work week, to get benefits, overtime; it's a day to celebrate that."
Durns noted that all 28 local AFL-CIO member unions were represented, along with some representing the AFL-CIO's rival, Change to Win.
In addition to food and music, there were piñatas and the annual "Labor Olympics," in which rival unions competed in events such as volleyball and tug-of-war.
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Local Democratic politicians made an appearance before the crowd, including Senate candidate Richard Carmona and both of Southern Arizona's congressmen. Both Tucson City Councilman Richard Fimbres and Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías pointed to their own membership in local unions.
Struggles
Even with the festivities, there are problems facing the union movement. Dwindling membership has made them less of a political force than they were in past decades. In January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that only 11.8% of workers are unionized. This is down from more than a fifth of workers 30 years ago.
"Unfortunately, with all the attacks over the last few decades, which coincides with the decline of the middle class, there has been a decline in both the private and public sector," Durns said.
There is one place where union membership is still strong: public sector unions represent 37 percent of those employees.
"It's much easier to organize in the public sector," Durns said.
Coupled with the difficulties in organizing is the question that many ask: is organized labor still necessary?
"They are forgetting their history and how we ended up with what we have," said Sereena Hogan, National Vice President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainsmen's Spousal Auxilary. "If we don't stay in the fight, those things are going to go away."
Roy Zarow, business agent for the Motion Picture Studio Mechanics, is frustrated that people don't know what the labor movement does.
"It saddens me," said Zarow, whose union is a part of IATSE, the logo of which is seen in most movie credits. "Whether they are represented by a union or not, without the union there to keep the employer on a string... we're going to get run over."
Jim Watson points to the recent success of his own union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, as evidence that the labor movement is not irrelevant.
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"A guaranteed raise of up to three and a half percent, health care, a guaranteed pension," he listed among the things his union negotiated for their 2,400 members, mostly at Raytheon. "In fact, we've grown."
Solidarity forever?
Among Leon Sierra's duties at the picnic was serving as a referee when when the kids to take a swing at the piñatas (this year, they included Spiderman and Brainy Smurf), but also to be Harry Caray when it's time for the Labor Olympics. This year, they were won once again by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, leaving Sierra's Operating Engineers in the cold again.
"The IBEW won again," he said. "I think they cheated," he whispered jokingly.
Democratic activist Ted Prezelski is a card-carrying National Writers Union member who covers soccer for TucsonSentinel.com, and contributes polticial commentary in The Sandbox. He also blogs on politics at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.
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