MAGNA — While many people think of Labor Day as a day off from work, some consider it the time to recognize the men and women who keep the nation working.

Throngs of people filled Copper Park in Magna Monday to celebrate the annual Labor Day picnic and car show. The free event is an opportunity for parents and children of working families to recognize the accomplishments of the state's labor movement, Jim Judd, president of the Utah American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations chapter, told the Deseret News.

"It celebrates (what) the labor movement gave to this country … like child labor laws, the eight-hour workday, the fact that most people have paid vacation," he said. "Retirement and health insurance are (also) things that the labor movement stands for."

The AFL-CIO comprises 56 union groups with about 11 million members nationwide, according to the organization's Web site. In Utah, there are approximately 30,000 members in 40 separate local union chapters, Judd said.

He commented that the recent economic downturn has hit the labor movement hard, putting hundreds of union members out or work or "on the bench," he explained.

"Utah is a little more fortunate then some areas of the country, but we're still not yet quite into double-digit unemployment," Judd said. "But we have a lot of people not working."

He noted that the state has a number of construction projects that have kept many workers employed, but not at the level "we'd like to see."

He said the state has done well in bonding for road projects, for example, which will keep many of the construction trades working. But to help pull Utah out of the downturn, "people have to have good paying jobs … where they can support their families and become good consumers," he said.

"We need to have good-paying jobs so we can have a secure life and a secure future," Judd added.

Part of that security should include adequate, affordable health insurance coverage for working families. With health-care costs rising dramatically, he said some families are being forced to choose between "food for my family or do I have health insurance."

"There needs to be some reform," he said. "There needs to be some type of cost containment. We need to make so that people who have difficult times or have illnesses can buy (affordable) health insurance."

Judd said the state has begun to reform the health-care system in Utah, but how effective the measures will be "has yet to be seen."

He lamented how "polarizing" the health-care debate has become nationally and expressed hope that some compromise could eventually be reached to help working families. He also said the country needs to have affordable options for those with pre-existing conditions.

"These are the people that need it the most and many times are denied (coverage) under our current system," Judd said.

"Those of us who are fortunate enough to have health care need to look beyond our situation now," he said.

"Most of us are only one illness away from losing our health-care (coverage)."

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com