Labor Day in Pittsburgh with the PWW

You should have been there!

We had a great Labor Day Parade — with all the unions, including SEIU and the Teamsters. In all, about 65,000 union members march in the ’Burgh. Pittsburgh is usually the third largest Labor Day Parade, behind New York and Detroit. This year we edged out Detroit!

Thanks for the headline that included military families, and that’s from the Building Trades. They are among the biggest contingents. They go on for miles with dogs, kids, et al.

The anger over Katrina and Bush sparked street corner speeches from electricians and boilermakers — 85-90 percent of whom are white. They don’t get fired up without feeling like it is theirs that has been violated. The reaction speaks volumes on working-class, multiracial unity.

We had steelworkers and retirees demanding the paper. Caught a whole bunch of hell when we simply ran out.

I am so proud of our PWW builders here. We had six distributors, three of them participating first time.

Pittsburgh may be a little a notorious for being a day late and dollar short — all those ruling-class bastards live here. But if you all could have been on the street for Labor Day 2005, in the ’Burgh … well, look at how I’m fired up!

The PWW annual fund drive will kick off on Sept. 15. Editorial board member Denise Winebrenner Edwards sent this e-mail right after a Pittsburgh Labor Day distribution. It “fired us up” to make sure we raise the money we need to keep this paper going.

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