The Unquiet City

Canada Day Celebrations at Niagara-on-the -Lake

I took my dog for a walk after I returned from the 

Labour Day Festivities that go on every September in 

my home town of Merritton.  I expected my street to 

be quiet in the old Sunday sense, i.e. businesses 

closed and everyone relaxing.

But a large garbage truck rumbled and clanked to a

stop in front of me and a man jumped out and 

started emptying the recycle bins into the back of 

the truck.

I was shocked.

"I'm surprised your union let's you work on Labour 

Day!" I said to him.

"What union," he said grimly.

***

Today isn't Labour Day.

But it is Canada Day which is a national holiday.

It should be quieter than the normal work day.

People who aren't essential workers should be 

gathered in groups to celebrate.

But it wasn't quiet. 

Non-union workers were everywhere.

***

 

The noise of a city at work continues 7 days a week

in 2014.

sigh

The unions are dying and I'm beginning to think

they may take our sanity with them. 

Labour Day Memories

Labour Day is the biggest day of the year in my working class home town of Merritton, Ontario, Canada.

Lots of kids, families, trucks and local entertainment.

It's a time to connect with old friends.

 
These aren't old friends.

I actually don't know these people.


But I do know the house. 

I lived in it until I went to university.


Like everybody in Merritton they were having a Labour Day party and didn't mind chatting and showing me what the house looks like now.

It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood.

 
However I really did meet up with some old friends.

This is Tiff and her gorgeous son Nate. 

We  were teaching partners one year, but the family connection is that I went to school in Merritton with her mother-in-law and father-in-law.

As a matter of fact  -  it was while I was babysitting with her mother-in-law that I kissed a boy for the first time!!

And yes we would have been in big trouble if we'd been caught.

This was the best part of the day I think. 

I swear it has been 50 years since I last had french fries and vinegar in a cardboard container on Labour Day.

Talk about heaven!!!

The years seem to have gone by so fast

and I suppose there thousands of Labour Day celebrations around the world every year

but there just can't be one better than the one in your own home town.

Merritton's Labour Day Parade - A Comment

Labour Day was a big event in the small town of Merritton, Ontario, when I was a kid in the 1950s.

Most of the families were dependent on the work the men got at the paper mills that sat on the edge of the Welland Canal.

Consequently, Labour Day with its show of force by the unions, was one of the most important holidays of the year.

But the factories are gone now and in recent years the unions have been in such disfavour that the Labour Day Parade was renamed 'The Community Days Parade' or something sad like that.

 And the unions were only allowed to march after the parade was finished.

It was a grim state of affairs.

But this year was different.

Labour was back and in a big way.

Peter Kormos led the parade and it gave everyone a chance to say thanks for his years of public service.

No more relegated to the back of the parade, the blue collar (and yes white collar workers, too, Debra), marched at the front, in the middle and at the end.

 There was a reminder that with the loss of so many manufacturing jobs Niagara is still hurting

 But it was a big day the unionized workers.

A last gasp?


Hard to say. 

I don't hold out much hope for the big unions.



But I would sure be happy to be wrong!

Related articles

• Layton honoured at Toronto's Labour Day parade (cbc.ca)
• Annual Labour Day march to honour Jack Layton and defend public services (thestar.com)