May day, May day, May day! With the world confronting a life-threatening pandemic, we are more than ever acutely aware of how much we depend on a vast number of service workers to help us live our lives. High on the list, of course, are doctors, hospital administrators, and scientists scrambling to find ways to prevent and treat the Covid19 virus. But the ranks are filled with countless others who work long hours under difficult, even dangerous, conditions, and are often taken for granted.
Broome County Peace Action, Broome County Veterans for Peace, and cosponsors Indivisible Binghamton, Broome Tioga Green Party, Midstate Council for Occupational Safety & Health (COSH), and Workers’ Center of the Southern Tier, wanting to acknowledge and support all workers, have planned a caravan to salute them and thank them for their service. We chose May first, widely known as International Workers’ Day since the late 1800s, as a most appropriate date for our tribute. The caravan will assemble at the parking lot of NYSEG Stadium (Rumble Ponies) on Friday, May 1st, at 10:30 AM, and begin our drive at 11:00 AM.
We will weave between Henry St. and Court St. for several blocks to highlight the VA clinic, the Post Office, the bus station, and the Federal building. Drivers will travel Court Street and Main Street from Binghamton into Johnson City, saluting gas stations, pharmacies, food shops, and other businesses, charities, and health care centers along the way. We will drive around Wilson Hospital, take Main St. to Oakdale Road to drive by Wegmans and the Oakdale Mall, then take Reynolds Rd. to Riverside Drive, to acknowledge and thank Susquehanna Nursing Home and Lourdes Hospital.
Since our intention is to thank workers for their service and to support them in their struggles, we want to make sure we do not contribute to making their jobs more difficult by spreading the Covid 19 virus. Therefore, we will take seriously the proper physical distancing, remaining in our cars and wearing protective masks when close enough to converse with anyone approaching us for interviews, etc.