The 2015 Labor Day Parade featured separate appearances from Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Continuing their pattern of public cold shoulders Cuomo and de Blasio marched separately, although within sight of each other. de Blasio joined a large contingent of labor leaders, including Mario Cilento, Gary Labarbara, Vinny Alvarez, George Gresham, George Miranda and Mike Mulgrew. Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and, for part of the route Senator Chuck Schumer, also marched with de Blasio. Cuomo was accompanied by a large contingent of elected officials, including NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, Queens BP Melinda Katz, State Senator James Sanders, Assembly Members Richard Gottfried, Guillermo Linares, Nick Perry and Michael Blake, and Council Members Margaret Chin, Ben Kallos and Daneek Miller.
de Blasio and Cuomo bookended the parade with separate remarks, de Blasio at the start and Cuomo at the end. Here are their comments:
de Blasio/Schumer:
Saying that it was “my honor … to declare today that New York City is a labor town”, de Blasio pledged to “keep it a union town” and to “make it more of a union town.” As his brief remarks were coming to an end de Blasio noticed Senator Chuck Schumer waving his arms and calling out to him. de Blasio asked his audience “Chuck Schumer wants to speak, what am I gonna do with that brothers and sisters?” He yielded the mic.
Schumer made a brief statement with his New York accent in high gear, working the Supreme Cawt, the #1 ansa and New Yawk into less than a minute of comments on Laybah Day.
Cuomo:
Cuomo gave a barnburner in support of his new mission of raising the minimum hourly wage to $15. Standing in his soundtruck on Fifth Avenue, Cuomo’s speech in support of the “Mario Cuomo economic justice campaign” echoed off of extraordinarily expensive apartment buildings on one of the wealthiest blocks in the country. The renewed progressive declared that “this state has the mantle of being the progressive capital of the country” and emphasized the “dignity” of workers receiving an increased minimum wage. Bellowing that if “you stand in the way of the working families, they’re gonna knock you down”, Cuomo ended by pledging that “we will not stop fighting until we have $15 an hour, so help me god.”
Additional Parade Coverage:
Cuomo’s press Q&A is here.
Our parade photo gallery is here.