Tri-County Vanguard

Frost Park in Yarmouth to be site of Labour Day event

Annual initiative of South West Labour Group includes speakers, barbecue, music, kids’ games

- ERIC BOURQUE THEVANGUAR­D.CA ERIC BOURQUE

You know summer’s winding down when you’re getting ready for Labour Day activities, including the event put on each year by the South West Labour Group in Yarmouth’s Frost Park.

Scheduled for Monday, Sept. 3, from 11 a. m. to 2 p. m., the event again will include speakers, a barbecue, musical entertainm­ent and children’s games. This is the seventh year for the initiative. Spokesman Jim Laverie said they started it “as a way to give back to the communitie­s we work in and belong to.”

There are a lot of misconcept­ions, he said, about union members regarding their pay and the like.

“Union members are the same as everyone else, struggling to get by in these changing, difficult times, working precarious work and having to work after retirement,” Laverie said.

Labour Day is a chance to reflect on what the labour movement is all about, he said, including what has been accomplish­ed and ongoing efforts to make further improvemen­ts.

He cited a number of achievemen­ts, including:

-equal pay for equal work; -pregnancy and parental leave; -weekends and paid vacations; -universal health care; -minimum wage.

“These and other benefits too numerous to list weren’t just handed to us,” he said. “Union members fought for these for our membership and all Canadians.”

Referring to the Frost Park event, he said, “South West Labour is proud to have started this event seven years ago and see it grow to a community event with not just union members but community members volunteeri­ng.”

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 ??  ?? Barbecuing hotdogs during the South West Labour Group’s event in Frost Park in Yarmouth last September.
Barbecuing hotdogs during the South West Labour Group’s event in Frost Park in Yarmouth last September.

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