NEW ORLEANS — Local Union leaders and political leaders show their appreciation to American workers with a Labor Day picnic in City Park.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, representing over 12.5 million workers worldwide, is hosting the Labor Day picnic.
AFL-CIO is a democratic organization, but the picnic is bipartisan. The makeup of union workers typically includes both Democrats and Republicans. CBS News says 71% of Americans approve of forming unions.
A couple of weeks ago—AT&T employees went on strike and marched on Poydras Street in response to alleged unfair labor practices.
University Medical Center nurses are in contract negotiations for the first time since forming a union last year.
Workers have fought off multiple anti-union bills at the state capitol over the summer.
In the past eight months, in Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Tammany parishes, teacher unions have been able to hammer out deals with their respective school boards-- bolstering the protection for teachers and other employees.
A major group taking the workforce by storm, Gen Z.
Nationally, unions are seeing the highest level of support since the 1960s with a 64 percent approval rating from Gen Z, according to CBS News.
“They agree to give part of their pay back to the union for dues but then the union comes in and gives them resources they never had before in terms of legal resources, organizational resources, and bargaining resources. Once they unionize, they have a right to sit down and negotiate a bargaining contract. Typically, that results in a raise a significant raise- which more than compensates for the dues that they pay,” said Clancy Dubos, WWL Political Analyst
Today's Labor Day picnic gets underway at 11.
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