Work force
Unions show strength on 5th Ave.
There’s power in a union.
Thousands of union workers from all industries and backgrounds made their way up Fifth Ave. Saturday, celebrating the deep roots of organized labor in the Big Apple and making more than a few political statements.
The theme of the parade this year was “NYC is a Union Town” and the masses of marchers made that clear.
“People who work for a living need to have their rights protected,” said doorman Carlos Castaneda as he watched the merriment from outside the building he works at on Fifth Ave. and 61st St.
The festivities featured floats, banners and live marching bands.
Members of Local 1 stagehands union rode an elaborate float with a full band and a singer performing “Life is a Cabaret.” Alongside the crepe paper and tinsel was a painted sign that read “Vote Flip the House,” a nod to Democrats’ efforts to regain control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.
This year’s grand marshal was Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2. The parade chairman was Lester Crockett, regional president of Civil Service Employees Association within AFSCME Local 1000.
Thousands of union members from a diverse array of labor organizations — including SAG-AFTRA, the NewsGuild, DC-37, Teamsters, IBEW, and more participated in the event.
Elected officials, including Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, also joined in.
Cuomo used the labor-loving crowd as a platform to vow to stand up to anti-union policies of the Trump administration.
“President Trump, who ran saying he would support the middle class, has become an enemy of the middle class,” Cuomo said. “He’s trying to destroy the labor movement, public unions and private unions, and we’re going to do everything we can in the state of New York to defend the middle class and the working men and women in the labor movement.”