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President Barry Leads March
As New York Labor Steps Out

November 1998 IBEW Journal

IP Barry at New York City Labor Day Parade "The line of march stretches farther than our eyes can see today. It reaches far back across the years to the countless others that have graced the streets of New York over the past 116 years...Their spirit is marching with us today."

With these words IBEW International President J.J. Barry linked the 1998 New York City Labor Day Parade with the first such march in 1882 and the generations of union leaders and members who have proudly carried the labor movement forward over the years. President Barry, serving as the Grand Marshal of this year’s parade — the oldest and largest Labor Day parade in the United States -- delivered the day’s keynote address at the reviewing stand after leading an estimated 200,000 marchers up New York’s famous Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 73rd Street. IBEW Local 3 was the most prominent union Local 3 Sword of Light Pipe Bandin the parade, turning out some 20,000 members to participate. Prominent in the front ranks of the parade were Brian McLaughlin, president of the New York City Central Labor Council and a member of Local 3; Edward Cleary, president of the New York State Federation of Labor and a member of Local 3; Local 3 Business Manager and former IBEW International Treasurer Thomas Van Arsdale; IBEW International Secretary-Treasurer Edwin D. Hill; IBEW International Vice Presidents Lawrence Rossa and Frank Carroll and IBEW IEC Members Joseph McCafferty and Paul Ward.

The parade itself, held on Saturday, September 12, capped several day’s of activities Proclamation JJ Barry Day - Nov 98during Labor Day week in New York celebrating the spirit and history of organized labor in the city. On September 10, President Barry addressed Local 3's membership meeting in Queens, and later spoke at a reception in his honor in Manhattan. Earlier in the day, President Barry traveled to suburban Westchester County where September 10 was proclaimed J.J. Barry Day. Richard Wishnie, a county legislator and assistant to the chairman of the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry in New York, presented President Barry with a copy of the proclamation.

On September 11, President Barry was among several speakers at an event marking the contributions of the labor movement to the history of New York, which is celebrating the centennial of the uniting of its five boroughs into one city. A special traveling photo exhibit on New York’s working people was unveiled at the ceremony and will be on display at various sites throughout the city. "The real success of the labor movement," President Barry told the crowd of labor dignitaries and city officials, "is told through the small victories that take place every day in every corner of this vast city."

IP Barry wirh Bishop SheridanAnother highlight of the week was the dedication of New York’s Union Square as a national historic landmark, as designated by the National Park Service. Since the early part of the 20th century, Union Square was a popular site for workers’ rallies and later political protests and demonstrations of many kinds. President Barry spoke at the dedication ceremony, which featured members of actors’ unions portraying historical figures from the city’s past and attracted New York’s leading political figures including Governor George Pataki, U.S. Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Alphonse D’Amato, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, several members of the New York Congressional delegation and others.

The festivities concluded on Sunday, September 13, with the celebration of the traditional Labor Day Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. John Cardinal O’Connor of New York celebrated the Mass at which President Barry delivered one of the Scripture readings.