Solidarity Singers Annual American Labor Celebration

The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey Industrial Union Council will perform as the platform in honor of May Day and Labor History month, celebrating the Workers’ Holiday with songs of labor and the continuing struggle for justice. There will be familiar songs and/or songs with easy-to-learn choruses to sing along.

A number of our members—including Lisa Novemsky, Rosalie Sussman, Barbara Cotler, and Diane Beeny—may again be singing with them on May 22.

In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor) proclaimed that “eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labor from and after May 1, 1886.” On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history.

The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council are “a street chorus, not a concert choir. Our preferred venue is a picket line. We try to lift the spirits of people engaged in struggle and help them to carry on. Only a few of us know how to read music, but we all know which side we’re on.”

Over the years, the Solidarity Singers have appeared hundreds of times on picket lines, at rallies for labor and other progressive causes, and in occasional concert settings. Its director, Bennet D. Zurofsky, can be reached at (973) 642-0885 or bzurofsky@zurofskylaw.com.

For further information, call (973) 763-1905 or e-mail ecsec.nj@gmail.com

[Photo attached: Caption: Group photo from a past Solidarity Singers’ performance at the Society. A number of our members, including Lisa Novemsky, Rosalie Sussman, Barbara Cotler, and Diane Beeny, are long-time members and hopefully will be singing with them. This photo includes Christiana Shyllon (standing, fifth from left, sadly one of three Solidarity Singers’ members who passed away in the past year. The others are Francis Ladson and Dottie Gutenkauf. They will be missed.]