On Labor Day in Philly, unions celebrated with a parade but warned of challenges ahead

A sea of rainbow shirts, drumlines, banners, and patriotic-looking floats filled Christopher Columbus Boulevard in Philadelphia on Monday morning as the annual Labor Day Parade marched along the Delaware River waterfront. But amid the celebration were serious calls to action.

Parade organizers and union members emphasized the economic and human-rights issues on the line in the upcoming November midterm election.

Protect Our Freedoms was the theme of the 35th Annual Labor Day Parade, which kicked off at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 headquarters in South Philly with unions running the gamut from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers in red, Laborers’ Local 332 in lime green, the Philadelphia Musicians’ Union in blue, and the Sheet Metal Workers in bright orange.

» READ MORE: Why are Philly’s construction unions so white?

Before a one-mile promenade down Columbus Boulevard to Penn’s Landing, labor leaders and elected officials delivered fiery speeches, drawing applause at the mention of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate running against Republican Mehmet Oz, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is facing a challenge from Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano.

Parade organizers, a Democratic-leaning group, stressed the importance of what’s at stake on the ballot this November.

“I know you’ve heard every year, ‘This election is the most important,’ ” said Philadelphia AFL-CIO president Patrick Eiding. “Let me tell you something, brothers and sisters … Mastriano is the archdevil for us.”

With a pivotal election two months away, labor leaders called on their members to vote and get out the vote from the midterm elections all the way through the 2024 presidential election.

» READ MORE: My dad’s union card gave me a better life. I want that for other Black families.

“The person who’s fighting against Josh,” said Eiding of Mastriano, “will take away your right to collective bargaining, do you hear me? Your fathers, your uncles, your forefathers fought for us to have a collective bargaining agreement, the right for a safe place to work. That man will take it away from you.”

Election anxieties ranged for the diverse group of workers assembled under the AFL-CIO umbrella, numbering around 200,000 locally.

Top of mind for Kensington High School paraprofessional Annie Lovett-Hall, a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, is protecting a woman’s right to choose this November.

“We’re going back to the stone ages,” Lovett-Hall said of restrictions to abortion access. “God gave you that body to make decisions for yourself, not for the government to make.”

Lovett-Hall also focused on economic issues, saying, “Everything is going up but our paychecks have not changed.”

Her concerns were echoed by others feeling the squeeze of rising costs and stagnant wages. Darnell Cheeves, 49, of West Oak Lane, is a highway construction worker and member of Local 57 of the Laborers District Council. For him, increased wages is a priority.

» READ MORE: How Black workers got locked out of construction’s best jobs

“Since everything went sky-high — gas, food, stuff like that — they need to start working on either a way to bring it down, or give us more money so we can stay up with the economy,” Cheeves said.

Politicos and elected officials from across the city and its suburbs alike came out for a Monday of meaningful fun.

Melissa Robbins, a political strategist, civil rights activist, and candidate for Philadelphia City Council at-large, said the right to fair wages, health care for workers, and civil rights issues are on the ballot this fall.

“Racism is at an all-time high,” she said. “We are Americans, and we’re divided. Looking at all these people here right now,” she said of the parade, “we’re one.”

During her speech, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat whose district includes parts of South Philadelphia and Delaware County, touted Washington’s work in addressing the rising cost of living with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. At the mention of the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, laborers clapped and cheered. Echoing her colleague, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean said that bill, which allotted more than $1 trillion to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure, “has our region’s name all over it.

“Democrats are strong for working people,” continued Dean, who represents Montgomery and part of Berks Counties. “The contrast couldn’t be clearer. We stand up for working men and women. We stand up for women and girls and their rights. We stand up for voting rights.”

While Pennsylvania is a battleground political state with razor-thin margins often determining national elections, Philadelphia is decidedly Democratic, with pockets of red concentrated in South and Northeast Philly. Sheet metal worker Philip Aschendorf, 34, lives in Newark, Del. He stressed the importance of unity among the trades, family benefits, and retirement opportunities. (With 17 years in the union, Aschendorf said he can retire at 55 years old.)

But Aschendorf didn’t want to talk politics too much.

“It’s a big Democratic region and they say vote for your job,” he said, “but a lot of people are going to think about the inflation costs, the fuel prices. ... You got to vote for your job, but you got to vote with your heart, too.”