The Los Angeles Harbor Coalition’s Labor Day Parade attracted several thousand union workers, family members and community supporters. The annual parade and picnic started just a few blocks from the Local 13 dispatch hall and ended at Banning Park in= Wilmington for an all-day barbeque and picnic. It is the largest Labor Day celebration on the West Coast.
The parade was led by the Southern California Pensioners who rode on a flat-bed trailer and tossed candy to children who lined the streets to watch the march. Hundreds of union members marched together with their local union.
ILWU members, nurses, teachers, Teamsters, Building Trades and other workers marched together and were joined by local high school marching bands, cheer squads, color guards, classic cars and motorcycle clubs to celebrate the working men and women who built this country and keep it running.
The day began with a free breakfast of burritos, coffee and juice at the Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Memorial Hall sponsored by the So Cal Pensioners Club. Over 1,500 breakfast burritos were distributed. The ILWU welcomed elected officials and candidates currently running for local, state and national office in the upcoming election. Candidates were each given a few minutes on the mic at the Memorial Hall to address the crowd as they enjoyed their breakfast.
Local 13 President Bobby Olvera Jr. spoke at the picnic about the importance of rank and file democracy to the strength a vitality of unions and the labor movement. “Leadership comes from the body of your union, not from someone who has been in office for 30 years and has never broken a sweat” he said. “Take control of your future. The strength of labor comes from us, the workers.”