Unions to walk Labor Day in display of solidarity

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Members of several local unions are expected to join forces for a unity walk on Labor Day weekend, an event that has been called the first such march in Hawai'i since at least the mid-1970s.

"There is a greater sense of urgency" for the Sept. 2 march, said Bill Puette, director of the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu. "Labor is being attacked on all fronts, and it's time for the voices in the labor unions to start answering and moving."

The gathering was originally planned as a march for education by University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly members, said J.N. Musto, executive director of the union.

But as word spread, other unions asked to join, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 5, the Hawai'i State Teachers Association and the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, he said.

The march is expected to begin at noon at Kapi'olani Community College and move down Monsarrat Avenue into Waikiki. Marchers will be walking on the sidewalks, Musto said.

He said he has heard estimates that 1,000 people may take part.

Organizers planned the walk for the Sunday before the Monday holiday to coincide with Labor in Concert activities sponsored by the Hawai'i State AFL-CIO at the Waikiki Shell, Musto said.

"I think ultimately the hope is that next year or the year after there will be a real Labor Day parade that will be on Labor Day," he said.