For RWDSU, Parade A Day to Paint Town Red

“People forget the meaning of Labor Day, Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, and I think it’s up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said David Mertz, director of the New York City division of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “Otherwise it just becomes another day off work, and another day to buy something on sale. That’s great, but it’s important to remember that history and to not take for granted where we are now.”

Each year, Mr. Mertz organizes the union’s activities during the Labor Day Parade. While the union has had a marching band or a float during previous celebrations, this year the RWDSU was hoping to obtain a different set of wheels to ride along the route: a Gray Line bus, symbolic of the tour-bus workers that it represents.