International Workers Day usually passes by with little fanfare in the United States. But the tens of thousands of people who took to the streets on May Day across the country this year recalled the fighting spirit and radical legacy of the first May Day in Chicago. Immigrants rights and climate organizations, alongside the Left and thousands of people, joined the call of unions across the country to march against the authoritarian and anti-worker attacks of Donald Trump’s administration, showing that we don’t have to wait for the next election to reject the Far Right.
May Day marked the third nationwide day of massive mobilizations in recent weeks, giving expression to the widespread discontent with Trump’s far-right agenda. It coincided with the passing of Trump’s first 100 days in office — which have brought a barrage of brutal attacks against immigrants, students, trans people, unions, as well as a chaotic upending of U.S. foreign policy. The call to mobilize on May 1 made by unions, the “50501” coalition, and the “May Day Strong” coalition demanded “an end to the billionaire takeover and rampant corruption of the Trump administration; an end to slashing federal funds for Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs working people rely on; and an end to the attacks on immigrants, trans people, and other communities.”
Over one thousand protests were held in cities from Chicago to Dallas, Texas to denounce Trump’s agenda, including direct attacks on unionized workers — from prohibiting collective bargaining for airport workers, prohibiting thousands of federal workers from joining unions, and firing federal workers in violation of their contracts. At the center of unions’ demands this May Day was to defend the right to unionize, especially as support for unions surpasses 60 percent nationally.
Protesters also denounced Trump’s continuation of Joe Biden’s political and military support for Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people and the targeting of student activists for repression and deportation for their support for Palestine. Despite union leaders’ and organizers’ silence on the United States’ funding of the genocide, pro-Palestine chants resounded from the marches, with Palestinian flags and keffiyehs dotting the crowds.
A particular source of outrage is Trump’s attempts to rule by decree on issues from trans rights to dismantling the Department of Education and allowing billionaire Elon Musk to gut federal programs under the guise of “cutting inefficiencies.” Against the backdrop of Trump’s tanking approval ratings and several policy reversals by the administration, the renewed energy this May Day shows clearly that working people, students, and oppressed communities are ready to fight against Trump’s attacks. With workers leading the way, this International Workers Day gave a glimpse of the power workers have to defend our rights from below and make an independent plan to fight against the attacks of the Far Right.
New York City
Nearly ten thousand people marched in Manhattan on Thursday from City Hall to Wall Street to denounce Trump’s open alliance with billionaires against the interests of the working class. Amazon workers fighting to unionize marched alongside graduate workers at Columbia University, like Grant Miner, who were fired for their pro-Palestine activism as Trump cracks down on the student movement.
Detroit
Solidarity across workplaces and schools against Trump’s xenophobic and authoritarian policies was the central message for the hundreds of people who marched in Detroit this May Day. Chants of “Fuck ICE!” and “Unions: yes, Trump: no! Union busters got to go!” rang from the crowd.
Washington D.C.
The release and immediate return of Kilmar Abrego García — the man wrongly imprisoned in El Salvador’s mega-jail — was a key rallying call at the march in Washington D.C. as thousands of people filled the streets of the country’s capital and center of government. Abrego García’s wife spoke at a rally to denounce the inhumane conditions in the private mega-prison in El Salvador where Abrego García has been held for over a month alongside hundreds of other immigrants.
Los Angeles and San Francisco
In one of the epicenters of protests against Trump’s xenophobic attacks in the first days of his second term, thousands of union members and activists marched through LA’s streets to defend the rights of immigrants and denounce the Far Right’s demonization and criminalization of immigrants. Only days before, over 55,000 public sector workers went on a two-day strike as they fight for a new contract.
In San Francisco, workers at the University of California rallied as part of a strike of over 20,000 workers across California. UC workers are bargaining for a new contract. Healthcare, research, and tech workers are protesting against the university’s hiring freeze among staffing shortages as well as for wage increases.
Philadelphia
The march in Philadelphia was marked by the arrests of seventy union members and activists who blocked a highway. Thousands of protesters filled the streets on Thursday, denouncing Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce and deportations.
Chicago
Thousands of people marched across Chicago, chanting “The people united will never be defeated!” and “No justice, no peace! No racist police!” Teachers, healthcare workers, and university workers led the march, demanding an end to Trump’s xenophobic deportation campaign, more protections for workers, and a $20 minimum wage.
Building the Foundations for the Fights to Come
This May Day showed that there is no “single issue” facing working people living in the United States, but that we must fight with a single fist for the interests of our entire class against the attacks of the Far Right. That means uniting the struggle for the right to unionize or for a living wage with the the struggles for full rights for immigrants, against the suppression of our right to protest, for trans rights, and for an end to the U.S. funded genocide in Palestine. As Trump launches an all-out attack against the working class in nearly every aspect of life, relying on authoritarian measures to impose his agenda, and as the Democratic Party tries to channel discontent into support for their version of the neoliberal status quo, working people are learning that it is only our collective action that can prevent the Far Right rolling back our rights.
The Democratic Party is trying to make the most of these protests, showing their faces at actions across the country, smiling for pictures with union leaders, and giving speeches about the next elections; but the tens of thousands of people who marched on International Workers Day to defy the Trump administration and in solidarity with immigrants, trans people, Palestine, and students offer a different path. We’ve already seen the power of mobilizations in achieving freedom for Mohsen Mahdawi and halting the revocations of visas for international students. But to truly put a stop to Trump’s policies, from deportations and layoffs to the suppression of free speech and the right to protest, requires taking the fight to our workplaces and schools and drawing our entire class into the struggle — fighting from within the rank-and-file of our unions and organizations to mobilize the millions of workers among their ranks to strike, to protest, and to not let a single attack pass without a fight.