‘Together We Win:’ photos from the 2017 St. Louis Labor Day parade

Proclaiming ‘Together We Win,’ thousands of proud members from 30 different unions turned out for the St. Louis Labor Day parade

Some 5,000 marchers from 30 unions, workers still struggling for union recognition and thousands of spectators poured into downtown St. Louis on Labor Day, Sept. 4, proudly proclaiming “Together We Win” in the face of unrelenting attacks from the Missouri Legislature and the unprecedented success of We Are Missouri’s petition drive to repeal so-called “right-to-work (for less)” by putting it on the 2018 ballot for voters to decide.

St. Louis Labor Council President Pat White said the turnout was the largest in memory.

Miles of equipment, trucks, floats, marching bands, drill teams and other units, led by parade marshals St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, stepped off at 9 a.m. from 15th and Olive streets, highlighting and displaying the skills and services union members in all walks of life provide while celebrating the importance of all working men and women who have made, and continue to make, America great.

Preceding the parade, hundreds of fast food workers with Show-Me $15, the St. Louis chapter of the Fight for $15 movement, protested outside a McDonald’s at 1119 Tucker Blvd., joining in a series of nationwide strikes and protests in more than 300 cities demanding $15 and union rights. Workers rallied outside the McDonald’s at 6 a.m. before marching through downtown to 19th Street and Olive Blvd., where Bread and Roses Missouri actors performed a play on the racist origins of “right-to-work,” then joined in the Labor Day parade. 

Here is our photo gallery from the St. Louis Labor Day Parade. For photos from other local Labor Day parades, click on the city’s name: Alton, Belleville, Desloge and Granite City. 

An appreciative crowd

Bands and step units

Union and political leaders

T-shirts