March for higher wages ahead of labor day parade
important to them as the fight to raise the minimum wage from the state’s $7.25.
Mercedes Pillette, a 26year-old Subway employee, said, “It's not just $15, it's union rights. I want everyone in the world to be in a union.”
Ms. Pillette has one son with epilepsy and another with autism. “It's hard to pay rent and look after our children's needs,” she said. “When I have to call off to look after them, they threaten to fire me.”
Paul Rivera, 36, of Perrysville, works at KFC as a cook and said it was his first workers’ rally. “I’m marching because I am fed up with not being appreciated.”
Nyshicka Jordan, 35, who works in communications for the SEIU in Philadelphia, said unionization at UPMC is a priority. “With them being the largest employer in the state, if they're not unionized, other employers in the city can treat workers however they want.”
One of the speakers outside the McDonald's was Josh Malloy, 26, who works at UPMC Mercy. He extolled the successful push to put wages on a path to $15/ hour at UPMC hospitals, but he still wants to unionize.
“I grew up in Wilkinsburg, a mostly black community. I saw a lot of poverty, and wanted to do something that would change the community,“Mr. Malloy said. “Most black people in Pittsburgh are service employees, and UPMC is the state's biggest employer, so I thought it would a great way to have a big impact in the black community.”
Mr. Malloy marched alongside Bridget Smith, 55, whose own workplace, Allegheny General Hospital, was unionized two years ago.
“We have better wages, we have saved our pensions, and we have a voice with management," she said.
The hospital and fastfood workers were joined by academic employees also attempting to unionize. At Freedom Corner, two of the speakers were Ben Case, a student pursuing his doctorate in sociology, and Peter Campbell, an English professor. Both are working to unionize University of Pittsburgh graduate employees and faculty, respectively, through the United Steelworkers.
In July, Patricia E. Beeson, Pitt’s provost and senior vice chancellor, addressed the issue of graduate student unionization and said organizations such as USW would be out of touch with an academic culture.
“In short, we have a healthy, ongoing conversation — one that should continue,” she said. “This collaborative approach is more effective than the potentially adversarial approach of collective bargaining, especially one in which a union unfamiliar with our academic values, culture, and mission would represent graduate students and their interests.”
In April, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Duquesne University must recognize its adjunct faculty union, voted into place in 2012.
The labor organizers were supported by various groups not directly involved in any workplace. Probably the largest contingent in the march was PIIN, who marched with cardboard fish, with words like “solidarity” and “justice” written on them.
Myra Kazanjian, 66, a retired pastor who lives in Bethel Park, said, “It's actually sinful, the minimum wage in Pennsylvania.”
White Lily Baptist Church Pastor Antawn Coleman, 32, of Crafton, said, “The Bible says if you don't work, you don't eat, but if you do work, you should be able to afford to eat.”
Two members of the First Unitarian Church, Richard Haverlack, 70, of Allison Park, and Jim Reitz, 81, of Squirrel Hill, carried a Black Lives Matter banner. In November, Mr. Haverlack said, their church's Black Lives Matter sign was vandalized.
The Pittsburgh DSA was also out in force, in accordance with the national organization's recent endorsement of a $15 minimum wage, said Pittsburgh chapter co-chair Arielle Cohen, 27, of Lawrenceville.
“Our involvement was initiated by chapter members,” said Ms. Cohen. “Nothing matters more than a life that is decent and worth living. We stand by workers.”
Smaller contingents ranging from a couple of guys wearing “Re-elect Peduto” shirts to a group waving a Socialist Alternative flag were also visible.
Even a dozen members of the environmentalist group the Sierra Club attended. Tom Hoffman, 70, of Point Breeze, said, “The corporations people are fighting on labor rights are often the same ones we're fighting on the environment,” and “the communities hurt most by climate change are those who can least afford it.”
He pointed to Hurricane Harvey. “This is what democracy looks like,” he said, echoing a classic protest chant. “And that's what climate change looks like.”
While the stark red, white and black signs of the DSA contrasted sharply with SEIU’s purple and yellow, the only vocal divisions between the various groups turned on whether the election of President Donald Trump has been energizing or demoralizing to labor organizing.
East Liberty resident Nila Payton, a 37-year-old administrative assistant at UPMC Presbyterian, said, “Since the election, people have been pushed away, they have gotten scared.”
On the other hand, Ms. Cohen said the local DSA chapter has grown a great deal since the election. She herself got involved last winter. Of the group's 340 members, she said, 50 were present.
At Freedom Corner, U.S. Sen Bob Casey spoke in support of the workers shortly before setting out to lead the Labor Day parade alongside labor leaders and other elected officials. Gov. Tom Wolf was scheduled to speak, but canceled, saying he was busy mustering the Pennsylvania National Guard to help in Hurricane Harvey recovery in Texas.