With the sounds of bagpipes, cheers of support and bands heard throughout campus, Point Park University students were greeted Monday morning with the Labor Day parade crossing over the Boulevard of the Allies.Some students gathered for the parade to enjoy their day off of school and give a “thank you” to the workers of Western Pennsylvania.“ I especially [came to the parade]  because my parents work really hard for what they have,”  freshman sport, arts and entertainment major Bryan Walton said as he watched the march.Kicking off at 10 a.m., 60,000 to  70,000 union workers, high school bands, government officials and others united together for the Labor Day parade in support of the unions, American laborers and to thank all workers.For decades the Pittsburgh Labor Day parade has been organized by the Allegheny County Labor Council (ACLC).  The difference from this year to last is a greater focus on the worker and jobs in general.“What we are doing this year is we are marching under the theme of ‘bring our jobs back.’ You know a lot of our jobs have been outsourced over seas,” President of ACLC Jack Shea said in a phone interview on Friday.With the unemployment rate at 8.3 percent in Pennsylvania, job support and growth was seen throughout the crowd. Members of near and far unions adorned in neon colors promoted the theme of the parade with, “Bring our jobs back home” signs. Some unions even showcased a homemade float for the crowd in order to show what workers really do on a daily basis. The carpentry workers, for example, created a life size toolbox and iron workers stood on a steel beam with the words, “We don’t go to the office, we build the office,” spread across it.West Mifflin resident Bob Kearns was out marching on Labor Day like he has for the past 20 years in support of his union, the operating engineer local 66. Holding his sign, “Because of the unions we have weekends,” Kearns explained that the parade shows how the workers still have “solidarity” when it comes to supporting the average working man.“In sticking together, you create better working conditions,” Kearns said while watching the parade. “There’s diversity, but we are all together.Other union workers marching in the parade included members of the Amalgamated Transit Union  who were there to represent the Port Authority of Allegheny County.With their union contract recently finalized, allowing hundreds of layoffs to be avoided, many workers came out in support of their union.“Either way it’s good to march regardless if there is a contract or not, …we are all still doing our jobs,” auto-mechanic for the Port Authority from Ross Township, Mike Manse said after the parade.Point Park students watched on as the parade made its way down the Boulevard of the Allies to support those marching and to enjoy the festivities.“We heard the bagpipes and I ran to the window and I was like guys we have to go downstairs,” freshman cinema major Christina Gonzalez said at the parade.Gonzalez and Walton went to the parade together and both agreed that they understood how hard their parents work to get them to college, which made them appreciate the Labor Day festivities.“You feel comforted because [your] parents don’t have to work today,” Walton said.Students also had the chance to celebrate at the Pioneer Picnic hosted by the Office of Student Activities as a way to give students a place to congregate, listen to the local band 3 Dudes Chillin’, decorate flip flops and eat traditional Labor Day food.“The biggest part of the theme where Labor Day comes in is we are doing some traditional cookout food … because some students cannot make it home for those Labor Day cookouts that they always went to … so we wanted to let them enjoy that aspect of the holiday,”  Coordinator of Student Activities Brad Kovalcik said.Shea said traditionally another part to the parade’s theme is also the family aspect of getting together to enjoy the holiday.“The ultimate goal is to get all [laborers] together here in South Western Pennsylvania and march together,” Shea said.  “Labor day is workers’ day, … it is the worker and their family.”