Over 400 People Attend the 29th Annual Labor Day Picnic in Tompkins County! We Are the 99%!!

The Tompkins County Workers’ Center and the Midstate Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, held the 29th annual Labor Day Picnic on Monday, September 3rd, in Ithaca’s Stewart Park. The theme of this year’s picnic was “We Are the 99%” to send the message that all our families – working and unemployed, organized and unorganized – need jobs and the vital public programs that support communities, not tax breaks for the rich.

A Special Award of Honor was given to Congressman Maurice Hinchey of New York’s 22nd Congressional District. Hinchey is retiring from his stellar 20 years of service in Congress in serving working women and men in a magnificent way! You will be missed, Maurice!

Other Award winners include:
* Friend of Labor: Linda Smith, Cofounder of the Cortland Worker’s Rights Board, Assistant to NYS Assemblywoman, Barbara Lifton, former President of UAW Local 1326 (Pall Trinity) as well as former President of the Midstate Central Labor Council;
* Mother Jones Award: Occupy Ithaca (for stimulating conversation on a range of issues related to the 99% locally, regionally, and nationally);
* Joe Hill Award: Cindy Kramer and Liz McCheyne, teachers in the City of Ithaca and South Seneca School Districts, respectively, for their work in their school systems to educate young people on labor rights;
* Goat of Labor: the Newfield School District (for their malfeasance in not negotiating in good faith their contract with the Newfield Teachers Assocation.