KPFK has been extremely cooperative in bringing Working L.A. to the air. Local 660 and a long-time activist in the National Rainbow Coalition. The largest L.A.-area labor day parade in years was held Sept. 4 in Wilmington. They were joined by two marching bands, a drill team, numerous truck cabs driven by Teamsters and independent truckers and an antique car club. Keynote speaker Gil Cedillo, General Manger of SEIU Local 660, the county workers union, told the rally at Banning Park that his local will not give up the fight against health care cuts.
Health care is a human right.
The rally was chaired by the ILWU's Luisa Gratz. The annual march, sponsored by the L.A. - Long Beach Harbor Labor Coalition, is the only one in California. Veteran marchers said this year's was the most spirited they had seen in years. Meanwhile, a Labor Day breakfast at L.A.'s Trade Tech College heard from John Sweeney and Tom Donahue and Thai garment workers who had been imprisoned by their employer. The pair, a design supervisor and a circulation manager, accepted double salaries and an all expense paid trip to Detroit at the request of Knight-Ridder, one of two media monopolies battling the unions.