This year’s Labor Day picnic set amid tough times
on September 8, 2009
Nearly ten percent of US workers were jobless this Labor Day. That’s a five percent increase in unemployment since December 2007, according to the Department of Labor.
In the midst of global economic turmoil, the Alameda County Labor Council of the AFL-CIO held its annual barbeque at Shoreline Park in Oakland. Union officials, members and community groups gathered to celebrate and drum up support for what some say are major political battles to come: health care reform, passing a federal Employee Free Choice Act to make union organizing easier in workplaces, and signing up immigrant workers.
Oakland North spoke to event organizers and participants about the state of labor during this period of economic hardship.
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