(WWJ) Next on the list of virus-related cancelations: Detroit's Labor Day parade.
The Metro Detroit AFL-CIO on Tuesday announced that the annual Detroit Labor Day march will be canceled for 2020 due to uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The union said, however, that replacement events are being planned in some virtual or hybrid form that will allow everyone interested to participate in the annual celebration of solidarity, while staying safe and healthy.
"2020 will continue to look different for a lot of folks in Michigan, but we are committed to using all the tools at our disposal to continue to organize working folks this year," said Daryl Newman, President of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO and Secretary-Treasurer of the Michigan AFL-CIO. "We are looking forward to spending the next 12 weeks engaging with our brothers and sisters, culminating in a major event that we'll announce closer to Labor Day."
Labor Day falls on Monday, September 7 this year.
The Michigan AFL-CIO is hosting a Solidarity Summer event series over the next 12 weeks, starting Wednesday, June 16, with a virtual town hall on Labor's Five Economic Essentials for Racial and Economic Justice with special guest Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. These events will include labor and community leaders, state, local, and federal elected officials, and frontline working folks coming together to build our collective power this summer and for the future.
"We are obviously disappointed with this news, but it will not hold us back from building collective power as a labor movement in Michigan," said Jeannette Bradshaw, Secretary-Treasurer of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO and IBEW Local 58 Recording Secretary. "Whether we gather online or in-person, we'll continue offering all of our active and retiree members weekly opportunities to connect with each other and with community and elected leaders from across Michigan."
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has lifted some restrictions on gatherings as case counts drop, but events and festivals with large crowds remain prohibited. And although it's difficult to know what the virus situation will be by September, epidemiologists have said they expect a second wave at some point, particularly of many people stop social distancing.
