Labor Day Editorial by President Taliercio

We All Love a Parade!

We all love a parade. This year we have learned how to celebrate the Fourth of July without a parade. We honored our departed warriors on Memorial Day without a parade. And this month, on Labor Day, Central New York Workers will not be parading, but we will be marching. Organized Labor struggles every day to keep marching forward, to make a better and more just workplace for American Workers.

These are difficult times. 30 million jobs have been lost. Even worse, over 180,000 of our brothers and sisters have been lost to a pandemic through denial and disinformation.

Workers have borne the brunt of this pandemic as well as have been the ones who work to keep this country running despite the danger. Food Service Workers at hospitals and in the schools feeding the sick and the children. Truckers bringing supplies to market feeding the community. Nurses caring for the sick, Grocery Store Clerks and Cashiers, and now, Teachers and School Staff as we attempt to re-open schools safely. Even without Federal support, all of us have figured out how to suit up every day, leave our families and report for duty.

Organized Labor continues to pressure the Federal Government to support the States and the workers until every business can safely reopen.

With all that we face in this incredibly challenging time, America’s workers can live without a parade, but what we need is an extension of enhanced unemployment benefits. We need a raise in exchange for our unmatched high productivity. We need reliable and affordable childcare and health insurance.

We Workers will do our part, as we do every day, especially since the Coronavirus found its way into our communities. We will continue to go to work and to do our jobs, but we will also march, and call, and petition the Federal government to do its part and support the people who make this country great. We will also continue to educate our fellow workers and the community before they go out to VOTE so that they will know who marches with them and who against them.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend and Thank You to all of the Essential Workers who will be at work on this holiday, giving yet one more day to making sure public services continue, and ensuring that we are all safe.

Ann Marie Taliercio, President

Central New York Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO