Monday’s holiday will be marked Downtown in a big way by Pittsburgh’s venerable Labor Day Parade.
People who regularly walk or march or drive in it and those who regularly watch it know the route: from Centre Avenue (near Washington Place) over to Grant Street and then on down the Boulevard of the Allies to Stanwix Street starting at 10 a.m. Monday.
The march will take a while, as organizers are saying it’ll consist of thousands of union members and leaders, plus a long list of elected and would-be elected officials, community group members and some college and high school marching bands.
It’s the 40th parade since the event resumed in 1984.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day is “an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.” The first one was held on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, and in 1894, after several states (including Pennsylvania) passed laws recognizing Labor Day, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal federal holiday.
Pittsburgh’s parade is oft-cited as the country’s biggest, but it’s difficult to prove if that’s still true. However, Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council that helps to organize it, says in a statement, “We have never seen so much excitement for Pittsburgh’s Labor Day Parade. This is a celebration of not only organized labor but [also] our city and our community. We expect record turnout, with more union members marching shoulder to shoulder, more local marching bands and dance teams, and more events than ever.”
Look for some members of the PUP staff and other Pittsburgh news strikers wearing our PUP t-shirts. The parade is like a fashion show for labor shirts in a rainbow of colors.
Organizers on Friday afternoon announced that some of the elected and other officials attending are to be Governor Josh Shapiro, Lt. Governor Austin Davis, U.S. Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman, AFL-CIO National President Liz Shuler, SEIU President April Verrett, United Steelworkers President David McCall, Ironworkers President Eric Dean, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen President Timothy Driscoll, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Kenneth Cooper, state AFL-CIO President Angela Ferritto and Secretary-Treasurer Maurice Cobb, and “hundreds of state and local elected officials.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that they will be making a joint campaign appearance in Pittsburgh on Labor Day but didn’t publicly specify when or where, except that it will “post-parade.”
“That is a testament to the power of this labor movement here in western Pennsylvania, and a testament to the fact that we know how to have a great time in the city of Pittsburgh,” Kelly said in a statement.
As is tradition, the ACLC will precede the parade with the annual Labor Day Mass at St. Benedict the Moor Church, Centre Avenue and Washington Place, at 8 a.m.
Bob, a feature writer and editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is currently on strike and serving as interim editor of the Pittsburgh Union Progress. Contact him at bbatz@unionprogress.com.
