MENANDS — For some people, Labor Day is not just one last blast of summer, but a chance to promote the issues that hard-working Americans face like unaffordable health care and low wages.

A couple hundred people gathered at Ganser Smith Memorial Park from noon to 5 p.m. for the Solidarity Committee of the Capital District’s Labor Day picnic. The theme of this year’s event was to express support for U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 676, which would create a government-run, single-payer health care system to replace private insurance.

Event organizer Doug Bullock said the bill, which has been introduced by U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and has about 90 sponsors, would essentially expand Medicare and cover everyone. Bullock said private insurance companies need to get out of health care because much of the cost is tied up with administrative costs.

“It would be less costly to administer the system,” he said.

The AFL-CIO has passed a resolution in support of the effort. “The insurance companies are going to do everything to stop it — including paying off Congress,” Bullock said.

Another issue Bullock raised is that it needs to be easier for laborers to organize into a union. He said right now, after workers sign a card expressing interest in unionizing, it sets in motion a process requiring meetings at the job site and the potential for the company to intimidate or stall the proceedings.

“The employer has total advantage,” he said.

The Solidarity Committee has been holding the picnic for at least 20 years, Bullock said. It featured hot dogs and hamburgers with rolls donated by Local 50 of the Bakery and Confectionery Union through Freihofer’s and soda and water courtesy of the Teamsters union affiliated with Adirondack Beverage.

Joe Lombardo of Delmar, who does computer work for the state, said this is a critical time for the labor movement. Top issues are the Iraq War and energy costs and health care.

“Gas prices are so high and people are really suffering. I think it’s better for labor to get together so we can make a change,” he said.

Lombardo said it was inexcusable that 45 million in the country lack health care and the U.S. infant mortality rate is higher than other industrialized countries. “We think profit motive needs to be taken out of health care,” he said.

In addition to health care and wages, some people were on hand promoting specific issues. Bill Peltz, who is part of the Labor-Religion Coalition of the Capital Region, was at a table talking about a universal living wage. This concept would tie increases in the minimum wage to changes in housing costs.

Guillermo Perez, chief negotiator for the United Union Employees of New York — a 125-member independent union — spoke about an ongoing issue he is having with the Civil Service Employees Association to have ergonomic standards to deal with injuries related to carpal tunnel syndrome.

There was also live music and tables passing out literature on other issues such as the Iraq War and the plight of the Palestinian people. Grace White of Albany said the Palestinians are suffering under Israeli occupation and she believes a separate Palestinian state should be created.

“We are not against the nation of Israel. We are against the actions of the Israeli government,” she said.

Political candidates were also pressing a little flesh. Democrat Paul Tonko, who was seeking the 21st Congressional District, seat, said he supports the labor movement’s causes, including health care. “I think that everyone should be covered and we should have universal health care,” he said.

“I cannot think of a better way to spend Labor Day — this special national holiday dedicated to the social and economic achievements of our American workers — than with our friends and working families in labor at the Solidarity Picnic,” Tracey Brooks, who is also seeking the 21st Congressional seat, said in a statement. “On this special day, we pay tribute our local, regional and national labor movements and the working men and women who built our economy and made our nation great.”