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U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon, striking Bigfoot Beverages employees and local union leaders spoke at the Lane County Labor Chapter’s annual Labor Day celebration.
Local union leaders and elected officials spoke about the importance of organized labor during the Lane County Labor Chapter’s annual Labor Day picnic Monday afternoon.
A potluck and laughing children were in the background during speeches at the picnic at Splash! at Lively Park in Springfield. The event opened with comments from Pat Riggs-Henson, president of Lane County Labor Chapter, and Chris Maxie, organizing and strategic campaigns director for Oregon AFL-CIO.
“Today is a day to reflect on the fact that it’s been a very, very long year with a lot happening,” Riggs-Henson said.
Elected officials also reflected on the current political moment as they addressed union members directly. U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Ore., said the Trump administration wanted to “break the back of labor” because unions know how to talk to working people. She stressed the importance of union support in next year’s election season, pointing to change on both sides of the aisle.
“When I have to go to my Democratic colleagues and beg them to sign on to the PRO Act or some basic, basic, basic bills that support workers, that’s the problem,” she said. “Which is why we need to elect more union members to elected office, from the school board all the way up to Congress.”
Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon thanked union members their contributions to the city and county, noting that he saw many different people from his community at the event. “Springfield is really built on working-class folks,” he said. “Thank you for what you do every single day.”
Awards and cornhole
Riggs-Henson also presented awards to labor leaders, including Rajeev Ravisankar from the Oregon AFL-CIO, Lonnie Douglas from the Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network, and workers on strike against Bigfoot Beverages — represented by two members of Teamsters Local 324.
The award for striking Bigfoot employees came near the one-year anniversary of the ongoing labor dispute, which began Sept. 19, 2024.
“Thank you, and we will continue to fight,” said striking union member Robert Dean before a large round of applause from the audience.
(The last awardee, Oregon Rep. John Lively, was not at the picnic because he was in Salem for the special legislative session devoted to funding Oregon’s transportation needs.)
Around the speeches and awards, gift cards were raffled off and children received free swag bags with $25 gift cards for school supplies. A line for burgers and corn on the cob was popular, as were the cornhole station and the playground at Lively Park.
Service Employees International Union Local 49 member Alicia Holihan works at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend as a coordinator in the intensive care unit, and is on the bargaining committee for contract negotiations. She said it was important to remember the union history behind Labor Day.
“We’re very fortunate in the state of Oregon to be able to have these unions, to celebrate Labor Day and have a picnic and get together and show solidarity,” she said.
