Detroit unions celebrate Labor Day with parade, eyes on election

The promise of autumn, and the election that comes with it, was in the cool morning air Monday as laborers by the thousands — ironworkers, letter carriers, masons and more — took to the brick-covered streets of Detroit’s Corktown.

Clad in an array of colors representing different local units, with high school band drums beating and politicians poised to speak, the annual Labor Day parade returned to the city as much a show of solidarity for unions as a rallying call for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Harris did not attend the parade, instead addressing a union rally a few miles away at the city’s Northwestern High School, but fervor for the current vice president and the efforts of workers were seemingly one and the same in the show of force as a union town.

Chants echoing a motto of Harris, “We’re not going back,” rang across the crowd as UAW President Shawn Fain spoke at the parade’s destination in front of the Ford Motor Co.-restored Michigan Central Station.

It’s a clear choice this election, Fain told those gathered. Harris and running mate Tim Walz have been on the picket line while Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump “will be a disaster for the working class.”

“Donald Trump is a scab,” Fain shouted into a microphone to cheers.

And while his jab wasn’t new and neither was the parade, the heat of the political moment did bring a fresh element to the yearly worker celebration.

Fresh faces

Wearing Teamster gear, Jim Duhadway, 71, of East China Township said he’d always wanted to join the parade. His father and grandfather both worked for the county road commission; his grandfather even marched during the 1940s and 1950s.

His mom and her family, too, came from coal country in Pennsylvania.

“She said, ‘Without the union, you have nothing.’ And that always stuck with me,” he said.

Monday was his first time joining the parade and rally, motivated by a desire to show some support in this moment. He even pointed to the work of one of Monday’s speakers, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“Since I've retired, I know we've fallen behind and one of the things that Gov. Whitmer mentioned that helped … they stopped taxing pensions,” he said. “That saves me six to seven hundred dollars a year.”

He, like his brother-in-law Jacques Ledent, 65, of Lincoln Park, is enthused with Harris.

Ledent, who worked as a technician at AT&T before retiring, said the U.S. is at a turning point in democracy. That’s what brought him out for the first time.

“The big difference between the people who have the money and the people who don't have the money is getting bigger and bigger, and it's time for the people to realize they have power if they get together,” he said.

He enjoyed seeing the crowd, even if he wished there were more people there, but said he was disappointed not to see an appearance from Harris herself. He still supports her, but it was a missed opportunity in his book.

“We don't mind having her back, but she should show that she has the back of the labor, too,” he said.

Toting her 6-week-old daughter Niyah in a stroller, Candice Robinson, 31, of Detroit, had said ahead of the march that she was hopeful to see Harris, but knew it was a busy time.

It was important for Robinson to come out to support the unions and her sister in the UAW, she said. She used to work for Stellantis on the line at the Marysville axle plant and has marched multiple times, even if it was new for her youngest child.

Unions are all about togetherness, and the pay and benefits they help secure goes toward the needs of families, Robinson said.

“That's what it's all about,” she said. “You go to work and you make your money, you come home for your family.”

Unions are also a big part of the Detroit community, she said.

They protect the workers and keep jobs secure, said ironworker Willie Chaney, 34, of Detroit, as he held his 3-year-old daughter across his arms. After four years as a union worker, it was his first year at the parade, too.

He was glad to “see all the people, all the different unions come together and just celebrating, what we do every day,” he said.

Political rallying cries

Among the union workers and union families present were the politicians they hope will support their needs going forward.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan didn’t speak at the rally but did march in the streets of Corktown along with other elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor; U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit; Wayne County Executive Warren Evans; Oakland County Executive David Coulter; and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Of those, Benson addressed the crowd along with numerous multiple leaders who later attended Harris’ visit.

Fain, in his more than 10-minute-long, wide-ranging speech, also called to mind 53-year-old Antonio Gaston, a father of four who was reportedly crushed to death while working at an Ohio Jeep factory last month. Fain and Stellantis have already exchanged barbs regarding the death, with Fain pointing to Gaston being transferred to a plant away from his family and the auto company claiming Fain is playing politics with the worker’s death.

Fain on Monday elaborated on his anger with the loss while also noting the upcoming anniversary of the strike against the three major Detroit auto companies.

Fain said that the fight for workers’ rights isn’t over.

“Corporate greed is squeezing human beings past their limits, and workers and our families and our communities continue to pay the price,” Fain said. “That's what our fight’s for this Labor Day. … Labor is meant to be a means to an end to a good quality life. Our work and our lives are not meant to be a sacrifice to a handful of billionaires at the top.”

More: 5 memorable visits to Detroit by presidential candidates on Labor Day

Whitmer, who recalled her city-given moniker of “Big Gretch” on stage, told the crowd the presidential race wasn’t the only key item on the ballot this fall.

Votes are needed to keep the Legislature a Democratic majority, there are key congressional races and the Michigan Supreme Court needs justices like Justice Kyra Harris Bolden and Kimberly Thomas, who both also spoke Monday, she said.

“Today is to honor the hardworking men and women who helped build the labor movement in Michigan and in this country,” she said. “Today is also a reminder of how much we have yet to do. Sixty-three days, let's pull out all the stops and let's get it done.”

Editor's note: A previous version of this story misspelled Jacques.

Editor's note: Many Detroit Free Press employees are represented by a union that took part in the Labor Day march.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Labor Day parade draws out unions with eyes on election