CSEA CELEBRATES LABOR DAY IN ROCHESTER

CSEA members and their families

pose for a group photo prior to the parade

Photo: Ove Overmyer

Rochester, N.Y.-- Labor activists who work and live around the Rochester area gathered in the East End on Monday morning, September 7 to kick off the 24th Annual Labor Day Parade. CSEA parade participants joined thousands of nurses, librarians, electricians, firefighters, carpenters, iron workers and other union stalwarts as we marched along East Avenue, East Main Street to Plymouth Avenue on the west side.

The 2009 parade had several themes, including the primary message to support the Employee Free Choice Act, championing universal health care, supporting workers rights seeking to unionize without corporate retribution, and to showcase pro-labor candidates for local elected office. Many CSEA endorsed candidates marched in this year's parade, including Monroe County legislators Harry Bronson (24th LD) and Carrie Andrews (21st LD).

Organizers estimated that over 3,000 marchers and 45 units participated in this year's event. There was plenty of entertainment with marching bands, dancing cows and message-themed floats.

Labor Day has been a national holiday celebrated since 1894 to honor all working Americans. To view a CSEA photo essay on the Rochester Labor Day press conference and the parade, click here. (Sorry, Kodakgallery is requiring viewers to sign in. Click the hyperlink tomorrow (9/09/09) and find the gallery on Flickr.

Additionally, CSEA Monroe County Local 828 co-sponsored a Labor Day family picinc at Seabreeze Amusement Park after the parade. More than 500 tickets were pre-sold on what some organizers would call the last day of summer.

The Local 828 officers want to thank administrative assistant Barb Fragassi and member Ron Scudder for all their hard work, and to our other members who volunteered their time and talents in assisting the organizers of this year's Labor Day events.