Michigan LaborFest Moves to Ford Field on September 13

DETROIT, Aug. 12, 2003 -- The Michigan State AFL-CIO announced today that LaborFest, the annual celebration of labor's heritage, will take place this year at Detroit's Ford Field on September 13, from noon to 6 pm.

"This is a new approach, and exciting new way for working families to celebrate our heritage, show our strength, and protect our future," said Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO.

"We're going to have the world's largest indoor picnic at Ford Field," said Gaffney. "We're going to create the world's largest postcard, part of our campaign to stop the world's biggest rip off of working families -- the so-called 'Free Trade Area of the Americas.'"

LaborFest at Ford Field will replace the traditional AFL-CIO-sponsored Labor Day parade in Detroit. Admission to the stadium will be free on September 13, and LaborFest participants will have the opportunity to tour the Detroit Lions locker room.

The new and expanded LaborFest, said Michigan AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Tina Abbott, "will be a family celebration for union members, their families and friends throughout the state of Michigan."

The indoor street fair, Abbott said, will feature a high school marching band contest, a float competition, games and rides for children, car and truck exhibits, and musical entertainment.

Other featured activities will include a chance to play the popular "NFL Experience" football contest -- including simulated passing, tackling, and goal line dives -- on the Lions' field, and a "Business Agents/International Representatives 100-yard dash" for union staffers.

Immediately following LaborFest, discounted tickets to Comerica Park will be available for just $5 for those who want to see the Tigers play the Kansas City Royals at 7:05 pm on September 13.

"Detroit is a union town and Ford Field is a union house," said Donald Boggs, president of the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. "It's a perfect place to hold LaborFest, and a great chance for everyone to pay a visit to this great new facility in the heart of our city." Members of 22 different construction unions participated in building Ford Field, Boggs noted, while food and building services are staffed by members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union and the Service Employees International Union.

This year's LaborFest will also feature a new focus on issues of vital concern to working families.

"We're going to take advantage of this great gathering of working families in downtown Detroit to educate and agitate on the issues we care about, including the right to organize," said Gaffney.

"Millions of workers in this country want to join unions and bargain for a better standard of living, but they are being denied their fundamental rights by illegal and unfair employer tactics," said Gaffney. "We intend to put the right to organize at the top of our nation's agenda."

Universal access to quality, affordable health care will also be a major theme of LaborFest '03. "It's a disgrace that 41 million people in this country have no health insurance," said Abbott. "Many of our members work in the health care field, and we see first hand the human tragedy caused by our nation's health care crisis.

"We need a universal health care system which provides quality, affordable care to every man, woman and child in the United States," said Abbott.

Fair trade will also be on the agenda at LaborFest. Participants will have a chance to sign the world's largest postcard. The giant statement against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will be transmitted to trade ministers from North, Central and South America who will meet in Miami this coming November.

"Teamsters and turtles are together again," said Lana Pollack, president of the Michigan Environmental Council, which represents some 65 grass roots environmental groups throughout the state. "We're proud to stand with all of our friends in organized labor, against unfair trade agreements which threaten workers and the environment."

"NAFTA has been a disaster in the U.S., Mexico and Canada," she said. "Jobs have disappeared, wages have dropped, and environmental standards have been attacked in all three countries."

"The proposed FTAA would expand unfair NAFTA-type trade rules to more than 80 countries in the Western Hemisphere," said Pollack. "We want to stop FTAA, and push instead for a fair trade agenda which includes enforceable protections for workers, consumers, and our environment."

Additional information about LaborFest '03 is available at www.laborfestdetroit.org . The website includes information about free and discounted parking, advanced food orders, exhibit registration, the high school marching band contest, the float contest, and discounted tickets for the September 13 Tigers game at Comerica Park.