Lincolnites will have a chance to commemorate the contributions, struggles, and achievements of American workers for Labor Day this weekend with a Solidarity Picnic hosted by the Lincoln Central Labor Union (LCLU).
Lincoln Central Labor Union, AFL-CIO
The event will be held from Noon-4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31, at the Lincoln Labor Temple, 4625 “Y” Street. The celebration is free to attend, and will feature free food, a Lincoln Fire and Rescue rig demonstration, and other activities.
“This is our chance to celebrate each other,” Heather McKenzie, LCLU Treasurer and IBEW Local 265 member, told KLIN News. “We’re all coming together to support not only organized labor, but also the working class individuals who have rights as well. At the end of the day, we all put our pants on one leg at a time.”
The annual observance of Labor Day, McKenzie says, is worth far more than a long weekend and picnic to bookend summer.
“It’s a celebration of our brothers and sisters that came before us and fought so hard to give us equal rights in the workforce. Our right to a safe work environment, a 40-hour work week, weekends off, a livable wage—It’s all because workers before us banded together and fought for a change. That’s what Labor Day is. It’s about solidarity amongst us all,” that said.
The first 8-months of the 2nd Trump administration has no doubt presented struggles for organized labor. In March, Trump issued an executive order (EO) that excludes agencies with “national security missions” from the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978—effectively removing collective bargaining rights for workers at more than 30 federal agencies.
Earlier this month, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced they would got forward with terminating most union contracts with federal employees, despite a court order for agencies not to terminate current union contracts until a legal challenge to the EO is resolved.
Seemingly undeterred, McKenzie says union members are “starting to come together.”
“My union brothers and sisters are not saying red or blue. They’re saying purple—that we need to elect candidates who are going to support workers, union or not,” she said. “We’re recognizing that we’re fighting the good fight. It’s an uphill battle, that we all need each other for. We all deserve to go home from work safe, knowing that we have a roof over our head. It’s everything we call: America.”