Socially Distanced Labor Day Rallies Planned Across Massachusetts Monday

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BOSTON (AP) — Labor organizers are planning to hold a series of socially distanced rallies across Massachusetts on Monday to mark Labor Day in response to the coronavirus instead of the movement's typical Labor Day breakfasts.

The main Labor Day event in Boston is a rally with those attending remaining in their cars at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center parking lot.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will deliver a keynote address. Other speakers scheduled to attend the rally include Darlene Lombos of the Greater Boston Labor Council and Steven Tolman of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

Gates open at 10 a.m., with the program scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

The program will also feature the premiere of a short Massachusetts labor film and will end with the screening of the family film, "Chicken Run."

Other socially distanced labor rallies are planned Monday at New Bedford High School in New Bedford and outside Springfield City Hall in Springfield.

The Massachusetts unemployment rate that soared during the coronavius pandemic remains the highest in the nation at about 16 percent.