Union workers at Labor Day rally sound alarm over automation, job losses, affordability

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Set us as preferred Thousands of union workers, their family members and supporters marched through the streets of industrial Wilmington on Monday, taking part in a Labor Day parade whose festive mood overshadowed their serious concerns about the future.Jesse Munoz, a 63-year-old longshoreman, who belongs to International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13, talked of how automation has eliminated more than 2,000 jobs over the last 15 years or so and worries that foreign-owned companies will do more to shrink the workforce and worsen working conditions.

“The concern is the future,” Munoz said.“I have a son that’s on a list to become a casual worker, which is a worker that will accumulate his hours, and then hopefully within time become a regular member of the union.

But the future is not as promising as we would like it to be.”“If you eliminate the workforce, you eliminate taxes.You eliminate pensions,” he said.

The Wilmington rally joined Labor Day events throughout the nation Monday, a holiday that also marks a prime campaign opportunity for candidates in midterm elections and other political races.The first U.S.

Labor Day celebration took place in New York City on Sept.5, 1882, with 10,000 marchers.

In 1984, President Cleveland signed a congressional act establishing the first Monday of September as a legal holiday, which has become known for promotional sales as well as a day off for many.The holiday has particular resonance in Southern California, where the labor movement remains large in numbers and powerful in political influence.Across the nation, that’s far from a given.The number of workers represented by unions rose by 463,000 in 2025, according to data collected by the pro-labor American Prospect, and national density — meaning the number of U.S.

workers who are unionized — edged from 9....