Chicago put the parade back where the steel was.
The Labor Day Parade returned Saturday to the East Side on the Southeast Side for the first time since 2022. Dozens of unions rolled Ewing Avenue. Then they walked into Steelworkers Park for Eddie Fest, named for Edward Sadlowski. Mayor Brandon Johnson showed up and said workers deserve to unionize “without being intimidated.”
Lorraine McCauley, a retired paramedic: Local 2 let firefighters and paramedics bargain as a group, not one by one. Jackson Potter, Chicago Teachers Union: “Workers have to come together.” Sharon Green, ATU Local 308 steward: safety and rights, same sentence.
The week around it is not a picnic. Hotel workers and nurses are on strike in the same city. That is why the floats matter.
The rest of the map
Boston’s second Labor Day parade steps off Monday at Copley. Riverside has a parade and a union job fair the same morning. Haledon, N.J., still walks from the Botto House, where silk strikers gathered in 1913. Chicago also has the African Festival of the Arts in Washington Park and the Pilsen Mexican Independence Parade on the same holiday clock.
What this means for you
If you work, this weekend is the one day the country is supposed to say your name out loud. If you are in Chicago, the East Side got its march back. If you only watch Washington, look at Ewing Avenue for a minute.
Bottom line: the parade came home. The park filled up. Labor Day still works when a city lets it.
GLHR NEWS explains the news. Not investment, tax, or trading advice. Do your own work before you act.
