While Labor Day is a holiday to rest, its true origins represent the fight for fair working conditions. Today, leaders of San Antonio and the nation’s Labor Movement were honored downtown.
In 1982, Betty Jean Alden created a sculpture honoring the labor leader, Samuel Gompers. After years of damage from natural elements, the art was demolished. However, a new public art tribute was unveiled in honor of Labor Day on Monday.– In 1982, Betty Jean Alden created a sculpture honoring the labor leader, Samuel Gompers. After years of damage from natural elements, the art was demolished.
“She led the Pecan Sheller Strike back in 1938. The centerpiece is modeled after the auditorium where she made a speech but was violently attacked by a mob,” Cummins said. Union leader and former president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, Shelly Potter, is also honored. “He’s from the here in San Antonio, and then, he was elected president of the Texas AFL-CIO,” Cummins said. “And while president, he not only represented working people, but he also transformed it into a civil rights organization.”“Then we had Joan Suárez, who was president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers . She was president of the San Antonio AFL-CIO,” Cummins said.
“The greatest moment for me was was when I saw farmworkers organized sitting in a convention for the Farmworkers Union in Pharr, Texas, for the first time in the history of Texas and voting on what they thought their priorities were for them as workers,” Flores said. “It was the best form of civic education.”“I hope that it’s going to be a constant reminder to people who walk by here that people who labor people who work every day are the ones that construct the city,” Flores said.
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