Labor secures riverfront labor monument (largest in USA under flood water)

[Omaha Steve]

April 28th was Workers Memorial Day. The services for those killed on the job in Nebraska and Nebraskans Killed In Action overseas were held here. The memorial bell was rung after each name was read to the attendees. It was a very beautiful setting. The river was a normal level then. The water my not drop below flood level until December.

The figures are 8 foot tall.

OS


http://www.omaha.com/article/20110615/NEWS01/706169993#labor-secures-riverfront-monument

By Emily Nohr
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

The Labor monument at Lewis and Clark Landing has been secured in an attempt to save the Omaha artwork from the Missouri River.

Rising water and rapid currents led Mike Baker, business manager and president of Ironworkers Local 21, and Stu Steffens, the local president, to wade into the Lewis & Clark Landing and use steel cable to hold the 30-foot-tall monument in place.

When the work was done last week, two of the five 8-foot-tall sculptures of laborers already were waist-deep in water. Today, they are almost entirely under water, said Linda Morin of the Omaha Federation of Labor.

Unveiled in 2003, the monument features four men and one woman toiling at their work. The design of local sculptor Matthew Placzek depicts two workers pulling on a line that appears to tilt a heavy pot. Water pours from the pot down into a series of ladles, simulating molten steel. Two other workers, one a woman, labor in front of a furnace. Nearby, a blacksmith crafts tools.