Ground was broken May 17 on the Michigan Labor Legacy Project in Detroit, which will be a public work of art that will honor working men and women, describe labor's heritage and "inspire the public with labor's vision for the future," according to project president Gerald Banton.

The artwork, called "Transcend," will feature a stainless-steel open arch standing 60 feet above ground between West Jefferson and Hart Plaza. It will include 14 large, natural boulders holding bronze castings that depict labor's story.

One visually interesting feature of the sculpture will be a "spark," created by two lights dancing between the two uppermost points of the arch, which will be left open to represent labor's unfinished work. Inside the arcs will be gears, each containing quotations appropriate to labor.

The artwork, by sculptors David Barr and Sergio DeGiusti, was chosen from among 50 proposals submitted in an anonymous national competition.

Greater Detroit Building Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Devlin said at the groudbreaking, "the monument is a long overdue symbol of the strength and solidarity of organized labor."

Metro Detroit AFL-CIO President Donald Boggs said the project is a great way to "honor working men and women, past, present and future."

Also on hand was Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who said organized labor is filled with "ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Thank God for organized labor."