Sep. 6—The dreary weather did not stop the Owensboro Area Central Labor Council from hosting the annual Labor Day Picnic on Monday after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Picnic festivities began around 11 a.m. at English Park, with a barbecue lunch served at noon. Jeff Wiggins, secretary-treasurer for the Kentucky chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, was the speaker.

Donna Haynes, financial secretary for the local Labor Council and board member for the state Labor Council, said the council cooked enough food for 150 people.

The purpose of the picnic is to celebrate labor and recognize what it has done for the American worker, Haynes said.

"If it wasn't for organized labor, nobody would be getting a paid holiday," she said. "Everyone would be going to work for $3 an hour today, so because of labor, this is paid federal holiday."

Haynes said because of labor, standards like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), fair labor practices and the right to challenge unfairness in the workplace are available to workers.

"Labor has done a whole lot for the whole country as far as the working person," she said. "From the United Auto Workers and high-paying jobs in Detroit to people who work at Tyson and grocery stores. They're all protected because of what labor has done, and we need to celebrate that."

Showing respect and appreciation to unions and labor workers is Haynes' favorite part about hosting the picnic.

"To show respect for what my forefathers did to guarantee that I could go to work next to a man and make the same money made at a union-protected job," she said.

Haynes said she feels labor unions are important in today's society, but being respected, wanted or desired, she feels, is a different story.

"It used to be that 35% of the workforce was unionized, and now it's down to about 14%," she said. "A lot of people have good jobs and make good money with good benefits because their place of employment was next door to a union place of employment, so that union took care of both of those people."

If unions keep decreasing, Haynes said, people won't see that remain the case because "corporate greed is rampant."

"Corporate greed is the bane of this country," she said. "Corporate greed will be the ruination of this country if people like me and so many others don't take a stand. ... I will take a stand against corporate greed until common sense comes back into this country, because we've lost a whole lot of that."

Andy Meserve, president of the local Labor Council and president of USW Local 9423, said the council wants to give back in some way through the picnic to celebrate labor and serve a meal.

"We believe all labor has value, all labor should be celebrated," he said.

Meserve said unions are more popular, citing surveys he has seen.

"I think people want a voice, they want representation, they want to be able to negotiate their wages and benefits," he said. "Income inequality is a big deal, and unionization is one way to level the playing field where workers can at least negotiate fair wages, contracts, living conditions, health and safety."

One of the biggest misconceptions around unions, Meserve said, is that people think unions are trying to "roadblock" companies.

"We want companies to be profitable, we just want to be able to share in that and help," he said. "Our safety programs, our committees bring tons of value to companies.

"When you have a workforce that is engaged, the company's going to profit."