The annual United Steelworkers Local 6166 Labour Day picnic is set for Sept. 6, but with one change – it's now an afternoon affair.

“We felt that just when everybody got there is when we were shutting down,” said Murray Nychyporuk, president of Local 6166. In past years, the picnic started at 10 a.m. and ran until 2 p.m., perhaps a little too early for kids looking to sleep in on their last day of summer vacation. This year's picnic will start at noon and last until 4 p.m., allowing for a full afternoon of food and fun.

Activities on the docket for the 2010 edition of the picnic include footraces of the three-legged and sack varieties, a barbecue menu of hamburgers, hot dogs, pop and ice cream, speeches from dignitaries, and live music. “We're going to have music provided by Monalith,” explained Nychyporuk. “They're a local band, all four of them are Steelworkers. They'll be playing two sets. They play a lot of older tunes.”

Door prizes will also be given out, including USW shirts, cups, and Frisbees. USW-logoed Labour Day yo-yos will also be given to kids as prizes. “We've got a couple hundred of them,” Nychyporuk said. “Hopefully that's enough.” The USW Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) is also expected to be on hand, selling T-shirts with the proceeds going to support striking Vale workers at the Voisey's Bay fly-in mine in northern Labrador.

The Voisey's Bay strike began on Aug. 1, 2009. Talks between Vale and the USW Local 9508, representing 130 mine and mill workers, were most recently at the bargaining table in late July, but talks broke down after two days with no deal.

The picnic will be held behind the USW building on Elizabeth Drive, but the Labour Day spirit will reach all the way out to the Vale plant. “We're going to take more of an initiative to run food out to the plant for those guys who are working and can't make it out,” Nychyporuk said. “We have a lot of volunteers who come out of the woodwork,” he added, noting that many of the picnic volunteers are not necessarily USW members.

“It's a way of giving back to the members, because sometimes the perception is that we always take from them,” Nychyporuk said. “It's also a way of giving back to the community. It's a day to celebrate labour.”