"Unions need to engage the rank and file so that they understand the issues that affect their lives," McElrath said. "A lot of workers are losing their retirement security and their letting corporate America run the workplace."

McElrath, an 86-year-old University of Hawai'i regent , helped organize the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the 1930s and cemented her staus with Hawai'i unions during the sugar and dock strikes of the 1940s.

But this morning, McElrath urged the 400 or so people at Kapi'olani Park to "preserve that which we have gained and move ahead with new ideas in light of the massive changes in our political economy."

McElrath , waving an ILWU hand fan fron her convertible, was the grand marshal of the Labor Day parade of more than 20 Hawai'i unions. The group rode and walked from Magic Island through WaikikI and ended at Kapi'olani Park with an old-fashioned labor rally.

The parade featured the Pearl City High School marching band, political candidates shaking hands, a military color guard, ILWU members riding motorcycles and even a city garbage truck retrofitted with a gigantic plywood American flag.

But in a reminder of modern times, members of the Association of Flight Attendants near the head of the parade carried photos of the 25 flight attendants who died Sept. 11.

In her speech, McElrath told the history of Hawai'i labor through her eyes and uged union organizers to do better.

"We need to be sure we register all of our members to vote," she said. "It's a crurical time because of the elections and it's a crucial time for the dock workers and hotel workers and airline workers. "

Gordon Lafer, an organizer for ILWU Local 142, was one of nearly 200 ILWU workers and retirees who marched through the streets of Waikikito scattered support in the form of shakas and honking car horns.

"Unions have done so much for the poeple of Hawai'i," he said. "But there is so much more to fight."

Jerry Kalama sat in the distances having a picnic for 60 of his family members and was unaware that a labor rally had even been planned. But the union members still had his support, said Kalama, a Teamster who operated heavy equipment.

"It's a good thing that we have this Labor Day," he said. "People need to appreciate the working man."