DETROIT - Tuesday the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO announced that the annual Detroit Labor Day march will be canceled for 2020 due to uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Replacement events are currently being planned in some virtual or hybrid form that will allow everyone interested to participate in this 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.” 

 

The Michigan AFL-CIO is hosting a Solidarity Summer event series over the next 12 weeks, starting tomorrow 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.” 

 

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