It's their day: Union members march in solidarity

Thousands of union members and supporters on Monday walked, banged drums, chanted songs, and drove semi-trucks emblazoned with phrases like "Buy American" in a show of solidarity during Detroit's Labor Day parade as they attempted to send a message that unions are here to stay despite their shrinking membership rolls and Michigan's "right-to-work" law.

"This is a day that all unions come together to show that we are standing together," said Keely Bell, a member of UAW Local 140, which represents workers at Fiat Chrysler's Warren Truck plant.

Detroit's Labor Day parade, for decades among the nation's largest, began in the 1880s and reached its peak around 1960.

This year's parade occurred against the backdrop of UAW negotiations with the Detroit Three and continued declines in union membership. It's the third year since Michigan’s Republican-controlled legislature passed "right-to-work" legislation that allowed workers in unionized workplaces to completely opt out of paying dues or agency fees under new labor contracts.

The percentage of wage and salary workers nationwide belonging to unions in 2014 was 11.1%, or 14.6 million workers, down from 20.1% in 1983, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Michigan, 14.5% of Michigan's four million workers belonged to a union, down from 16.3% in 2013.

Michigan became the 24th state to adopt right-to-work legislation in late 2012 permitting workers to opt out of paying union dues, but still receive the same salaries and benefits of dues-paying union members in their workplace.

Bell contends that union membership is declining in part because corporations have cut back on workers and, in some cases, have moved work overseas or to Mexico. Labor experts also point to increased factory automation and a longstanding preference for foreign-based automakers to open U.S. plants in southern right-to-work states

"To me, if the unions were not for the people, you would not have so many sectors trying to get rid of unions," Bell said.

Following the parade, UAW President Dennis Williams told hundreds gathered in downtown Detroit that union members must push back against political forces that have effectively dismantled some of the influence unions once had.

"Brothers and sisters, we are in the fight of our lives," Williams said.

Williams also waded into presidential politics by criticizing an idea floated by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler should move plants to southern states where non-unionized workers are generally paid less money.

"They are talking about moving jobs out of Michigan for lower wages," Williams said, without uttering Trump's name. "Talk about misguided!"

After listening to Teamsters President James P. Hoffa and Williams, Chrysler engineer Scott Moldenhauer of Macomb Township said he intends to keep paying his UAW union dues, even when that expense becomes optional under the next contract because of right-to-work. "It doesn't seem right that you would not pay for something you are a member of," Moldenhauer said.

Joining the festivities were a number of Bernie Sanders for president fans who gathered with signs and banners along the parade route by the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic Party nomination in 2016, did not appear to have an organized presence at the parade.

"We've been in five parades and I have not seen a Hillary contingent in any of them," said Michelle Deatrick of Superior Township, an organizer with the group Southeast Michigan for Bernie Sanders, which isn't affiliated with the official Sanders campaign.

Several Michigan politicians, including U.S. Reps. John Conyers, Debbie Dingell and Brenda Lawrence attended Laborfest, a downtown event held after the parade that was hosted by the UAW's Ford Department.

George McGregor, president of UAW Local 22, said the show of union solidarity at this year's parade shows that unions will always have some power and influence in America.

"As long as there are people working for a living, there will be unions," McGregor said.

Contact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely.