Labor Day Picnic 2010 -- YOU are invited

CELEBRATION TO BUILD WORKING CLASS POWER, 02.09.2010 00:00

Here comes Labor Day! Its our annual Labor Day Picnic and celebration brought to Southern Oregon by the Southern Oregon Central Labor Council.

These times of economic strife see Corporate America "sitting on" 8 Trillion dollars of accumulated wealth while hard working families are losing their jobs, their homes, and in way too many cases their belief in the future. We have a National Jobs Emergency!

This year's picnic celebrates the enormous contributions of the working class. The only real turnaround for this recession will come from America's internal engine, the people who do the work from sea to shining sea. Labor Day never meant more than it does in 2010.

Please join us this Labor Day Monday, September 6, 2010 for our annual picnic here in Southern Oregon-

* * * LABOR DAY PICNIC 2010 IN SOUTHERN OREGON * * *
*Starts at 11:00 a.m.
*Tou Velle State Park
8425 Table Rock Rd.
Central Point, Oregon

FLYER "Labor Day Picnic 2010" - 403K

Labor Day 2010 Picnic

Free music, burgers and hotdogs (& veggie burgers) will highlight the annual Labor Day Picnic & Barbecue at Tou Velle State Park on Monday, September 6th. The Southern Oregon Central Labor Council, sponsor of the event, invites everyone to join in celebrating the contributions of working people.

Tou Velle State Park is located at 8425 Table Rock Road, Central Point, on the Rogue River. The fun begins at 11 am and continues until 4 pm.

Speakers include Oregon State Rep. Peter Buckley who will be joined by other labor friendly politicians.

Music will be provided by Patrick Dodd, Broadway Phil and the Shouters and Tami Marston who will be joined by her Daughter Rose.

Plus, Mickey Balloonman will entertain kids young & old.

While admission and eats are free, please be prepared to pay the state parks $5 parking fee and bring lawn chairs as there are a limited number of tables.

LABOR DAY PICNIC 2010
*Starts at 11:00 a.m..
Tou Velle State Park
8425 Table Rock Rd.
Central Point, Oregon

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2010 -- LIST OF LABOR DAY PICNICS AROUND OREGON
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Bend — Labor Day Picnic at Pioneer Park. 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Sponsored by the Central Oregon Central Labor Council.
Contact Linda Bradetich at (541) 350-0965 for more information.

Eugene/Springfield — Labor Day Picnic at Jasper Park in Springfield/Pleasant Hill. Begins at 12-noon.
Sponsored by the Lane County Central Labor Council.
Contact Cj Mann at (541) 913-0056 for more information.

Medford — Labor Day Picnic at Tou Velle State Park, 8425 Table Rock Road, Central Point. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Donations accepted and there is a $3 charge for parking.
Sponsored by the Southern Oregon Central Labor Council.
Call Kathy McUne at (541) 664-0804 for more information.

North Bend — Labor Day Picnic at Ferry Road Park in North Bend. 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Sponsored by the Southwestern Oregon Central Labor Council.
Call Shawn Jennings at (541) 396-3244 — or e-mail  shawngj@msn.com — or Jan Long at (541) 347-9120 for more information.

Oregon State Fair — The Oregon AFL-CIO labor booth in the Central Canopy area continues to be staffed with union volunteers during the entire two weeks of the fair, including Labor Day, the 11th and final day of the State Fair. Oregon AFSCME Corrections members will staff the booth on Sept. 1, and Local 2067 members from the City of Salem will staff the booth on Sept. 2. Jim Gourley of the Steelworkers, who coordinates the booth, is always looking for volunteers who can work a shift on Labor Day itself.
Call Gourley at (541) 206-9544 if you'd like to help out on Sept. 6.

Portland — Labor Day Picnic at Oaks Amusement Park in Southeast Portland. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., with a brief program at 1 p.m.
Sponsored by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council.
Contact Hilary Mortensen, (503) 239-9858.

Salem — Labor Day Picnic at Riverfront Park in Salem. 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Council and AFSCME Local 2067.
Cost: 2 food items per person. RSVP by Aug. 1 to  afscme2067@gmail.com.
Contact Keith Bondaug at (503) 400-1115 for more information.

The Dalles — Labor Day Picnic at the Sorosis Park Shelter in The Dalles. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sponsored by the Mid-Columbia Central Labor Council. The Labor Council will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, condiments, soft drinks, paper plates and plastic utensils. Please bring chips, salad, and other potluck items; please note no beer or alcohol is allowed at the park. The Labor Council is also looking to borrow a barbecue grill and some lawn chairs.
Contact Walth Denstedt at (541) 298-4783 or e-mail to  darnwdff@gorge.net for more information.

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LABOR DAY -- Origins and what about May Day? 04.09.2010 - 20:17 The following comment was made a year ago on the Rogue IMC's Feature story for Labor Day 2009. This post comes from Jim Cook a long time union and community organizer who upon retirement left Oregon, USA for Ajijic, Mexico. Jim authored this article for the Service Employees International Union #503 (my union) and for the Oregon Peaceworker newsletter... Please take a look at Brother Jim Cook's very interesting work.--Wes Brain, Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice ************************************************************************************************* "Mexico and the rest of the world celebrate Labor Day on May 1. Why doesn’t the US?" by Jim Cook On Monday, September 7, Americans in the US and abroad will celebrate Labor Day, a holiday with a deeply ironic history. These days, Labor Day typically involves barbecues or trips to the beach with little awareness of the long, bitter struggle to win dignity and a decent standard of living for working people. The now-taken-for-granted 8 hour day was only won in the US after a bloody 100-year struggle. 19th Century socialists began calling for an 8 hour day as early as 1817 in England. Workers in New Zealand and Australia had won it by the 1850s. In the US, many employers and political conservatives fiercely resisted, claiming that it would result in the death of the free enterprise system. They have made similar claims against every social advance since, including the abolition of slavery, the minimum wage, laws against child labor, equal pay for women, civil rights, and currently, reform of health care. By the 1880s, the Industrial Revolution was gaining steam. Millions of workers found themselves trapped in dirty, dangerous, and extremely low-paying jobs for 10-16 hours, 6 days a week. Consequently, labor unions were on the rise as well as strong socialist and anarchist movements which championed the causes of working people. On May 4, 1886, anarchists and labor leaders in Chicago held a rally at Haymarket Square to explain the concept of the 8 hour day. The rally leaders called for a peaceful assembly and urged against any violence. Suddenly, the police marched against the assembled workers. Someone threw a bomb at the police, killing one and wounding several. There is some evidence that the bomb was a provocation by Pinkerton agents, heavily armed thugs used by employers to infiltrate unions and break strikes. The police opened fire, shooting a large number of their own men in the confusion, but also killing or wounding many unarmed civilians. Hysteria following the violence provided opportunities for political authorities, employers and major newspapers to denounce rally leaders and the 8 hour day. The leaders were arrested, convicted, and 6 were executed. The international labor movement, which had held world-wide protests against the trial, considered them martyrs. Later, Illinois Governor Altgeld pardoned the remaining imprisoned leaders and those executed and called all of the convictions unjust. To honor the Haymarket martyrs, American Federation of Labor President Samuel Gompers asked the Socialists’ 2nd International Convention, meeting then in Paris, to set May 1, 1890 as the date for a world-wide general strike in support of the 8 hour day. May 1 has since been celebrated as Labor Day by nearly every country in the world. Mexico wrote the 8 hour day into its 1917 Constitution, and set May 1 as Mexico’s Labor Day. The American martyrs of Haymarket are specifically commemorated in Mexico and throughout the world in these celebrations. So how did the US Labor Day end up on the first Monday in September? If you guessed the hand of politics, you’re right. In 1894, workers continued to demand an 8 hour day and other reforms. Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland wanted to break a strike in Chicago by Pullman Railway workers, which had begun in May. He feared infuriating America’s labor movement if he intervened, and wanted to make some gesture which might save the Democrats from working people’s wrath in the Fall elections. Declaring a national Labor Day holiday might be just the ticket. However, May 1st was already celebrated in many countries by unionists, socialists, and anarchists. A good conservative, Cleveland also didn’t want to alienate business interests. He settled on a September date because some unions in New York City had started holding an informal holiday in that month. Cleveland persuaded Congress, in July 1894, to create an American Labor Day on the first Monday in September. Shortly after Congress passed the holiday and Cleveland signed it, he sent federal troops to break the Pullman strike in Chicago. Thus Grover Cleveland helped create a long tradition among conservative Democrats: avoid taking any action which might really help working people and instead offer cheap political gestures. As we reach Labor Day of September 2009 we may be viewing the reaffirmation of this tradition as conservative Democrats and their Republican allies once again attempt to gut real health care reform in favor of band aid solutions that will not overly offend their business constituencies. Will they succeed? The American labor movement is united in demanding real reform. Stay tuned. Profile: The author retired to Ajijic, Mexico, after working for 20 years as a union organizer in the Service Employees International Union, and for another 10 before that as a community organizer in California fighting a variety of corporate abuses. Jim Cook, introduction by Wes Brain> Homepage:: http:// Labor Day Special 7 pm – 11 pm 05.09.2010 - 23:59 WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash Monday, September 6, 2010, 7 pm. – 11 pm., over 99.5 FM or streaming live at  http://www.wbai.org ******************* Labor Day Special 7 pm – 11 pm Another Labor Day, more political campaigning & sales galore, but, what about the condition of the workers – whether in unions or the unorganized left to defend themselves against the bosses? What of those who can’t find work, or full time work, what of those who were fired, laid off, were replaced and displaced? So, be damned the capitalists, we’ll concentrate on the working class – from here to Africa, with a special report from radio Africa in Cape Town, on that continents economic news and views, as hundreds of thousands of public workers strike in South Africa. We’ll focus on the battles of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation’s laundry workers fighting privatization, for immigrant rights and hear special messages from Isabel Garcia, co chair of Coalición de Derechos Humanos, the National Council of La Raza, author Alice Walker, NAACP Pres. Ben Jealous, AFL-CIO Exec. VP Arleen Holt Baker, SEIU199 Pres. George Gresham and the voices of the unemployed, mobilizing for a mass outpouring on October 2 in Washington DC to fight poverty and demand jobs, jobs, jobs. And, now’s the time to raise the issue of the inequality of wealth and its redistribution away from the “haves and have more” and of course organizing to make that a reality. And all of this and more interwoven with labor theater, rhymes, and the peoples music. *************** Building Bridges and most WBAI Programs are now being archived for 90 Days. They are also being PodCast. These links will be live ca. 15 minutes after the program ends. To listen, download or pod cast archived shows go to  http://archive.wbai.org/allshows.php?sort=nameaz Visit our web site -  http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org * B U I L D I N G * B R I D G E S *> Homepage:: http://