Labor Day Picnic At Headwaters: Voice Of The Township
Labor Day is on Monday, September 2nd this year, and we are planning our usual outing then, and taking our booth to Headwaters Park and celebrating! The Northeast Indiana Building & Construction Trades Council is hosting its annual Organized Labor Day Picnic from 11:00 AM-3:00 PM, and they are serving up all the picnic favorites: free hotdogs and chips, ethnic treats, soft and not-so-soft drinks and more. Activities include bingo, live music by the organized Musicians of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and bounce houses for the kids. This is always a big event drawing crowds in the thousands, and we love setting up our informational booth there as we get to meet and greet new and familiar people in a relaxed party atmosphere. It’s a chance to get to know the grassroots of our community and their families, and to meet and interact with a wide array of agencies such as ourselves. “Union members and their families, all workers, unemployed workers, and any other friends of working people are welcome.”
A little history of the day: The labor movement started from the idea that making work fairer for those who put so much into producing for the economy was the right thing to do. Before organized labor, “If you were a factory worker in the 1880s, you were probably toiling away at your job for an average of 60 hours a week, and it wasn’t unheard of for textile laborers in New York to make only 75 cents a day, which was a paltry sum, even for the time. To bring attention to these unfair working conditions, labor organizers coordinated the first Labor Day parade on Tuesday, September 5, 1882.” (Mental Floss)
The movement continued to grow, and in 1894, President Grover Cleveland declared the first Monday in September a national holiday throughout the United States. More than half of the states had already been celebrating organized labor; Cleveland’s act brought the rest of the country into the fold.
Here at Wayne Township, we are very much aligned with the values of the labor movement: people having good jobs that provide them with a livable income, fulfillment, and an opportunity to grow in a career. Two of WTTO’s programs are aimed directly toward these goals. One is our Employment Program which links employers with openings for our job-seeking clients. The second is our Workfare Program, which gives selected organizations and client partners the chance to “try out” an employment position. We are particularly proud of our relationship with labor unions that offer apprenticeships for workers to learn and experience skilled labor jobs.
Our office will be closed in honor of Labor Day on Monday, September 2nd, but we will be at our booth at the Labor Day Picnic at Headwaters Park. Come by and join us at the celebration!
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