Oklahoma Laborfest Conquers All

The performers and musicians of “Oklahoma Speaks.”

Stuart Elliott from the Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation of Central Kansas reports on the Oklahoma Laborfest, Aug. 26-28 in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City rocked for three days with the sounds of a celebration of working people. The big show: the premiere of “Oklahoma Speaks,” a performance that brought the state’s dramatic labor history to life.

The production spotlighted the tremendous impact of the union movement in Oklahoma. The state’s motto is ‘Labor Omnia Vincitÿ”—“Labor Conquers All”—a phrase commonly used by former AFL President Samuel Gompers. Union members, in alliance with tenant farmers, won majority support for 24 demands at the state’s constitutional convention in 1906. Oklahoma’s legislature eventually passed laws prohibiting child labor and mandating compulsory school attendance, established state mining and factory inspectors, regulated the use of strike breakers during labor disputes and outlawed the blacklisting of union sympathizers by employers.

The dramatic readings in “Oklahoma Speaks” were matched by musical selections and featured the voices of both leaders and everyday people who lived through powerful historic changes.

As the program for the show puts it:

Each of these voices reminds us that the struggle for justice is a noble fight that is central to Oklahoma’s identity. Each of these voices tells us about who we are and where we come from and encourages us from across the years to keep the struggle going for the good of labor, our state, and our people.

But there was much more going on at Laborfest than “Oklahoma Speaks.” Nationally known and local poets joined in an evening of readings about working-class life. Muralist Carlos Tello painted a mural in front of a live audience during a few hours on Saturday afternoon.

Film screenings included two new documentaries, “Tar Creek,” which examined the human cost of the nation’s top EPA superfund hazardous waste site in Picher, Okla. “Harvest of Loneliness: The Bracero Programÿ,”  a 2010 documentary, tells  about millions of Mexican men and women who experienced the temporary contract worker program known as the Bracero Program.

Other events included panel discussions, a writers’ workshop, an open musicians’ circle jam and sing-a-long, performances, a labor poster art contest and children’s activities. Speakers included author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Stewart Acuff, chief of staff for the Utility Workers (UWUA). Several unions held information booths, including the Letter Carriers (NALC), Electrical Workers (IBEW), Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Central Oklahoma Federation of Labor, firefighters and other union and community groups.

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