RE-UNION, 2008, for PEDESTRIAN @ AiOP (Art in Odd Places), New York City

The fourth-annual Art in Odd Places, Pedestrian featured Calla Thompson’s RE- UNION at Union Square, New York City.  Dressed in dark coveralls and an orange safety vest, Thompson distributed 1,800 graphic buttons honoring the early union movement and examining current union activity. 

Time / Location: Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, October 3-5 / 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (with a 45 minute lunch break and two 15 minute coffee breaks) – along the perimeter of Union Square.

14th Street is central to the history of the labor movement, and was the site, in 1882, of New York City’s first Labor Day Parade, a protest that ended at the southwest corner of Union Square.  Over the past three decades unions have been negatively affected by the computerization of machinery, the recession of the 1980’s, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the ability of conglomerates to union-bust, and globalization and outsourcing.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that unionized employees have consistently better wages and benefits.  Although unions are not a cure-all, they are one of the few ways in which workers can be assured a living-wage while employed by conglomerates, many of which consistently earn staggering profits.