Article: LABOR DAY, 1987 TRADITIONAL MASSACHUSETTS INDUSTRIAL WORK FORCE SHRINKING; UNIONS STRUGGLING TO ORGANIZE IMMIGRANTS, SERVICE EMPLOYEES

Today, on the 100th anniversary of Labor Day in Massachusetts, Daniel Wagner is going to work -- happy to have a union job as a machine mechanic in Charlestown that pays him nearly $15 an hour and overtime on holidays such as this one.

Henriqueta Suarez plans to work today, too, in an industrial laundry behind Fenway Park where she makes $7.06 an hour and needs all the extra money she can get to support two children.

"I'm the head of the household; and it's hard, you know." said the 38- year-old native of Cape Verde.

Suarez, an unskilled nonunion worker, and Wagner, a skilled union worker, are at opposite ends of the blue-collar labor force in Massachusetts. Both work extra to ...

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