Plans for the Michigan Labor Legacy Project were released Aug. 28, featuring a stainless-steel open arch standing 60 feet above ground between West Jefferson and Hart Plaza. The art work will include 14 large, natural boulders holding bronze castings that depict labor's story.

The artwork, according to the Metro Detroit Labor News, is labor's gift to the people of the city on Detroit's 300th birthday. The Michigan Labor Legacy Project Inc., a nonprofit group, is raising funds from unions, rank-and-file members and friends of labor to build the monument.

"Our goal," said project president Gerald Banton, "is to honor the working men and women who built our city, describe labor's rich heritage and inspire the public with labor's vision for the future."

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 are 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.

Barr said the monument will be "a unique icon that is expressive from a great distance, as well as telling an intimate, human story upon closer viewing and experiencing."

Approximately half the money needed to build the landmark has been committed, but more donations are needed. Donors of $25 will be recognized with a certificate. A gift of $100 or more will provide donors with permanent recognition at the landmark site. Donors of $250 or more will receive the above, plus a commemorative tile depicting the landmark. Donors of $500 or more will receive the above, with a special commemorative tile personalized for the donor.

Make checks payable to the Michigan Labor Legacy Project, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, 5401 Cass Ave., Detroit, MI 48202.

TO BE BUILT along West Jefferson in Detroit will be a 60-foot-tall landmark recognizing organized labor.