18A - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 8, 1998 LABOR DAY In midst of 1aor issues, Michi celebratesh iay Don't look down DETROIT (AP) - Ten days into their strike, Northwest Airlines pilots took to Detroit's streets yesterday with laid-ofl co-workers in a parade honoring a holiday of note in this city known iCr! its tervent unionism. Onlookers lining a downtown street didn't disappoint, cheering the passing pilots and their families, as well as Northwest machinists and flight atten- dants laid-off by the walkouts. Encouraged by the reception, the pilots - some pushing children in strollers --- returned the gesture, smiling while flashing thumbs-up signs. Welcome to I abor Day in a big labor city, where simultaneous processions by the 'Iamsters and United Auto Workers converged on one downtown rally site. In terms of safeguarding workers' ights - often through costly strikes_ "ev'erybody in this town has been hrough the same thing,' said Mark ttirgill, a 20-year Northwest Pilot from Jakland County's Commerce Township. "This is a labor town, where )eople have fought for years for things hey believe in." As Michiganians elsewhere flocked o festivals or tired up backyard grills, )etroit's parades were meant to rake a tatemient: In the taee of dwindlling< nion membership, organized labor rnains foirmidable. 'l'his day gives anyone involved in nionism a good Peling," Mitch Kuhn aid while hawking campaign pins tout- ig Gceofrey' Fieger, a I )emocratic :ubernatorial candidate who took part a the parades, then espoused himselfas iae pro-labor alternative to Gov. John ingler. Added Kuhn: "This is the one day we an come out, celebrate and all commit a the future." And come out they did. In drowning ut the traditional marching bands, hamsters-backed truckers passed with lares of air horns from dump trucks, emient trucks and semi rigs, some tow- .ig flatbed trailers bearing construction 'uchinery. Along the way, marchers many in -,nstruction helmets --covered the :mut ofunion ranks from postal work- -s to pipefitters, restaurant workers to * oers. ' think we're here as protectors of ,i4higan lainilies, and people have to recognize that organized labor is a key part of that,' said onlooker Sheila Strunk, a Mount Clemens social worker and IUJnited Auto Workers member. "In terms of Michigan's labor pres- ence, Detroit is just the local point" And a vocal one, evidenced lately by the Northwest strike that has trans- fOrmed the airline's terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport -- a major Northwest hub into a virtual ghost town. Earlier this summer, strikes at two G(eneral Motors Corp. plants virtually halted the automaker's North American production and cost Michigan's econo- my an estimated Si billion in lost out- put. In bidding for Engler's job. lieger seized yesterday's parades as a chance to champion himself as the working class' candidate and to court the union vote. "We need solidarity once, and tor- ever," '1ieger, clad in blue jeans and a blue blazer, told union types during a post-parades rally. "We have to scream it from every building, from every mountain top, Irom every hill and dale." Of listeners, he asked: )"Do you want to reassert that Michinan is still the strongest pro-labor sta e in the United Stales?" Detroit's serious holiday tone con- trasted with lightness of observances elsewhere in Michigan: After lea diong thousands in the annual walk across the Mackin.1e Bridge linkini Michigan's northern and lower peninsulas, Innler hustled in a state plane to the Detroit enclave of I lamtramck and its ILabor Day Festival ® In Macomb County's Romeo com- munity, things were peachy wlith its yearly Peach festival, deaturiig pancake break fasts, binno, arts-and-cra fts booths, carnival rides and Vegas-style ,ames leading to a holiday parade and classic car cruise. * liIn Pontiac, Labor Day included the first Arts, Ietits and Ats festivaIl, with free music trom three stages, food sold at 35 restaurant booths, and displays by 12, artists, I In Detroit's I Iart Plaza, jazz fans swooned to tunes of the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival, billed by organiiz- ers as North America's largest free jazz event. I . ADRIANA YUGOVIO# ROTC members Kevin Janicki and Jared Lampe repel down the Dentistry Building in the group's annual event. ~t. Engler joins thousands for 41st a .l. iviat.,ria. MACKINAW CITY (All) With his sleeping triplets in tow, Gov. John E ingler began his hectic Labor l)ay schedule by leading thousands of people in the 4 ith annual Mackinac Bridge Walk. I'nnler chose not to use the event to stump li6r his reelection, only waving and smiling as admirers honked their horns and crowded around him on the bridge. "We're voting for you, man," shouted one carload. Still, the walk wasn't without political significance. Walking beside Fngler in a show of reconciliation was Republican attorney neneral candidate John Smletanka. Smietanka was nominated at last week's Republican convention in a surprise upset of Ingler lavorite Scott Romney. "TIhe walk was lovely, just lovely," said Smietanka as he reached the end of the five-mile span. lie woke at 3 a.m. to participate in it and said it was the first time he had walked the bridge. Sm ietanka planned to 0in Engler later yesterday lir a parade in 1llamitranick and a peach testival in Romeo. Smietanka said he was driving, while Engler took a state plane. Engler, who was making his eighth walk as gover- nor, strolled two of his triplet daughters while his wife, Michelle, strolled the third. ihe girls, who turn 4 in November, alternately slept and sucked on lollipops. At the end of the walk, lEngler promised a crowd in Mackinaw City that he would help them build a light- house museum a relerence to the town's loss to Staten Island, NY, in a bidding war for a national lighthouse museum. "I'm still very committed to seeing the best. light- house museurn built here, an international museum," I Engler said as he accepted a box full of fudge prom some locals. Democrat ic gubernatorial candidate ieoffrey Fieger skipped the bridge walk in favor of a Labor Day union rally in Detroit. Workers with the Mackinac Bridge Authority said they were expecting 60,000 people for this year's walk, a herd whose enthusiasm wasn't dampened by mi d-mornin ,rain. Well before sunrise, hurndreds of1 walkers from grandparents to exchange students to Canadians were lining up for bus rides to the north end of tk bridge. Traffic closed on the bridge's right side as the walkers made their way from north to south. For Brian and Kate Robideau of Allen Parke the walk has special significance. In 1996, it was t first date. Last year, Brian proposed to Kate in ve middle of the walk. They returned this year, a mont after their August wedding. "We'll always come. We love it," said Brian, wh1s flowered hat and Mackinac Bridge Walk T sht matched his wife's. Also joining in this year's walk was Don Stevenso5 who trekked across the bridge as part of his walk acri4 America to raise money for Alzheimer's research. « Stevenson left his home near Seattle on June 21 Walking about 36 miles a day, he plans to rej Portland, Maine by Oct. 25. "I heard about this and wanted to join in to help the local Alzheimers chapter," he said. "I'm glai worked out" ti y, - III I I fl :1 Voted "Best Test Prep in Ann Arbor" by The Michigan Daily "Best of Ann Arbor 1998" readership poll - A- W - A-