Labor day in Los Angeles, 2005.  PHOTO BY: Bill Orton

By Bill Orton

Brilliant sunshine, thousands of workers, unfurled union banners, and hundreds of blue ILWU balloons helped to welcome leaders of America’s largest labor federation on Sept. 5 for the 25th annual Harbor Area Labor Day March, held in Wilmington, Calif.

"I’m here today because the future of the national labor movement depends on what is happening right now in California," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told thousands of workers gathered for a pre-parade rally.

Sweeney’s choice to attend the Wilmington March highlights the stakes for labor in the outcome of the Nov. 8 statewide special election in California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his anti-union cronies want to silence the voice of workers with Proposition 75, a redux of the despised Paycheck Protection.

A crowd estimated at 3,000 took part in the march. Martin Ludlow—the newly-appointed head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor--personally worked the phones to urge all area unions to take part in the Wilmington march and promised to push all affiliated unions to join the 2006 parade as a show of worker solidarity for what will be a pivotal election year in California.

"We had another wonderful parade and it’s only getting bigger," said parade organizer Luisa Gratz, president of ILWU warehouse Local 26.

Leading the parade were ILWU International President James Spinosa and Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams, ILWU Coast Committeeman Ray Ortiz, California Assemblyman Hector de la Torre (D-South Gate), and ILWU Local 13 President Mark Mendoza, Vice President Kevin Schroeder and Safety Officer Dave Beeman.