Travis Cary of Local 1011 and Escanaba City Council Member Todd Flath break ground for a Monument to Labor at the Escanaba Municipal Dock Thursday afternoon. Local union members and labor leaders gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony and to observe Workers Memorial Day — a day that honors and remembers workers who have lost their lives on the job. Work on the monument is scheduled to begin Monday. (Escanaba Daily Press photo)
ESCANABA — Local labor leaders and union members gathered at Escanaba’s Municipal Dock Thursday to break ground for a Monument to Labor and to remember workers who have lost their lives on the job.
The Monument to Labor has been in the planning stages by the Delta County Trades and Labor Council since Escanaba’s Sesquicentennial Celebration in 2013. Thursday afternoon,
Travis Cary of Local 1011 and Escanaba City Council Member Todd Flath broke ground at the Municipal Dock at the spot where the monument will stand. Work constructing the monument is expected to begin Monday.
The focal point of the monument will be a precast stone panel that will become part of the structure. The panel depicts a blacksmith at work. The stone panel is actually a piece of Escanaba history in itself.
Organizers said the panel was salvaged from an Escanaba municipal building that has since been demolished. Organizers did not know which building the panel originated from.
Similar panels can be found at Gladstone’s City Hall.
The Delta County Labor Council will be installing the monument, as well as taking care of all future maintenance.
The Escanaba City Council gave formal approval for the project at its April 21 meeting.
Members of labor also gathered Thursday to observe Workers Memorial Day — a day to honor and remember workers who have died on the job. Each day, 340 American workers die from on-the-job injuries and illnesses, according to speakers at the event.
Richard Clark, a retired Escanaba attorney, spoke to the group about the importance of the labor movement and its rich history in Delta County. Clark cited the benefits organized labor has provided workers such as improved safety on the job and higher wages.
Clark said that organized labor has been under attack the past 20 years — particularly by Michigan’s Right to Work law. Under the law, unions must represent all workers at a workplace — even if those workers who refuse to become union members and pay dues. Clark called it the “Right to Mooch” law and urged that it be repealed.
Organizers said this is the first time the observance has been held locally in many years, but plans are to make it an annual occurrence.
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