The 40th Annual Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Labor Coalition’s Labor Day Parade is expected to be the largest such event west of the Mississippi when it steps off 10 am, Monday, September 2, at Broad and E Streets in Wilmington, CA.
At the center of it all will be the Port Maritime Council of Southern California.
The coalition for the parade is chair by Larry Barragan, who also happens to be PMC president. “Every person on our Port Maritime Council is involved in the Labor Coalition, including organizing the parade,” Barragan reported.
Nearly 60 locals will take part in the parade, which is followed by a picnic for union members and their families. Local elected officials are expected to join union members for the festivities.
“We organize one of the largest true Labor Day parades in the country that is 100% funded and participated by labor unions,” Barragan added.
He said crowd estimates for this year’s parade could be as large as 10,000. He compared that to the parade’s origin in 1979 when a few select locals organized that first march in which a couple hundred people participated.
For more information on the parade, go to www.lalblaborcoalition.com