Workers’ pride on May Day
ACROSS THE U.S. and around the world, workers organized events on May 1 to commemorate International Workers' Day, which got its start 125 years ago with a nationwide strike for the eight-hour day and a battle over state repression centered in Chicago.
In New York City, thousands marched in response to the assault on workers' rights and living standards launched by big business and their political servants in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
For the last couple years, May Day has seen two separate events in New York. The first, rallying in Union Square, descends from the huge 2006 mobilizations for immigrant rights that marked the reemergence of mass protests on May Day. The core of this mobilization has been community-based immigrant rights organizations and the organized left.
The second event, of more recent origins, is a rally in Foley Square, organized and built by the Left Labor Project, whose backbone is leftwing union staffers and full-timers. This event is endorsed by a wide array of trade unions and a smaller number of more politically mainstream immigrant rights coalitions and NGOs.
This year, with the level of attacks on all workers reaching unprecedented levels, organizers decided that the differences between the two demonstrations should give way to greater unity.
In the words of Sonia Ivany, co-chair of the Foley Square Rally and president of the New York City Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, at a joint press conference prior to May Day:
We stand united in full support of labor and worker rights...and we call on all people of good will to join in denouncing the ongoing attacks on labor, bargaining rights, wages, benefits and the indelible right of all workers to join unions throughout this nation. We stand united for immigrant rights, for a legalization process, for workplace rights and for an end to mass deportations and hate crimes waged on immigrant communities.
When protesters from Union Square arrived at Foley Square, they doubled the numbers there and were greeted heartily by the crowd. This unity comes at an important time, given the attacks on public-sector unions and the communities they serve in New York's public hospitals, public schools and public transit system. Likewise, this unity is critical to responding the stepped-up attacks on immigrant workers by politicians at the federal and state levels.
In Chicago, immigrant rights activists, unions and workers organized several events over the weekend. A May Day rally of more than 500 led by immigrant rights activists proceeded from Union Park to the Latino neighborhood of Pilsen.
Favorite chants included "One struggle, one fight; workers around the world, unite!" and "Detention centers, tear them down! Border walls, tear them down! Wall Street, tear it down! The Pentagon, tear it down! The whole damn system, tear it down!"
There was also a rally at Wal-Mart in Forest Park organized by labor unions to protest the retail giant's exploitation of workers around the world. This rally drew more than 100 people, who then marched to the Forest Park cemetery where the Haymarket Martyrs are buried. There, at a commemoration organized by the Illinois Labor History Society, roughly 1,000 people gathered to hear the statement of August Spies and other Haymarket activists read aloud.
There were prominent contingents of laborers and other building trades, and speakers included Terrence O'Sullivan, president of the International Laborers Union and AFL-CIO vice president.
In San Diego, some 600 people--immigrants rights activists, trade unionists, students, LGBT activists and socialists--formed two feeder marches that converged on the Civic Center, home of the San Diego City government.
Along with cities and states throughout the U.S., San Diego politicians are threatening austerity measures that may result in thousands of layoffs, privatization of city services with nonunion labor and cutbacks in many areas, including schools, libraries and neighborhood recreation centers.
The chant of "Immigrant rights are workers' rights! Immigrant rights are union rights!" captured the spirit of this year's march on May Day, which has become a focal point of immigrant rights activism since the massive demonstrations of 2006.
Last year's march drew more than 5,000 protesters driven by the urgency of opposing Arizona's anti-immigrant SB 1070 law. Although this year's march was considerably smaller, it represents a change in direction for the movement. For the first time, the San Diego-Imperial Central Labor Council, along with several union locals, endorsed the Civic Center rally.
Although the union leadership is still closely tied to the Democratic Party, attacks on union jobs and union rights have forced the leadership to move in directions that they might not have considered even a year ago. Wisconsin and Tahrir Square have also broadened the horizons for the labor movement, including the relatively conservative labor leadership.
Both public- and private-sector union members were there, identified by their green, purple and black shirts with their union logos, but with the exception of the militant (and largely immigrant) SEIU janitors, local unions did not turn out in large numbers.
Carlos Pelayo, a member of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, addressed the crowd:
We are here on International Workers' Day, together as workers, organized and unorganized. We are here to bring together those 90 percent of workers that do not belong to a union, because the union bosses have their purse strings strained by supporting candidates who come to no ends for us, but a means for more misery. We can see that lot of our union leaders aren't here, because they are all up in Sacramento at the Democratic Party convention...
What is important here is that we have a long struggle ahead of us. It's about time that [organized] labor comes together with the rest of the workers, the immigrant rights struggle, because this is a human rights issue. Our jobs, our wages, our benefits are being eroded, destroyed or taken away.
In Hightstown, N.J., nearly 200 people participated in an event organized by Unidad Latina En Acción NJ (ULANJ) and endorsed by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1038, the largest state workers' union in New Jersey.
Those gathered represented a number of organizations--immigrant rights, antiwar and workers' rights--from all over the state. The May Day celebration was the opportunity to demand jobs for all, just and humane immigration reform, workers' rights and the implementation of a local ID system.
Unfortunately, the need for local ID's might become one of the most pressing issues since New Jersey looks to implement the "Secure Communities" program that would encourage local police to report any undocumented immigrants to the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency, thus massively growing the ranks of the 1,000 immigrants already detained in the state.
"A local ID would permit the town police to identify undocumented immigrants, in cases of small traffic violations or other misdemeanors, without having to report them to ICE," explained Jorge Torres, a member of ULANJ.
François Laforge, an organizer with ULANJ and an International Socialist Organization member, addressed the crowd with a speech focusing on the role of immigrants in the U.S. economy:
Since its inception, this country has been built by immigrants. African slaves, Chinese railroad workers, Europeans and Latin Americans--all at one point or another gave their sweat, blood and often their lives to make this country. And what were they rewarded with? Exploitation, poverty, humiliation and racism.
During the march through the center of town, several onlookers showed their support in response to chants of "Education, not deportation," "The people united will never be defeated," and "Say no to racist fear, immigrants are welcome here!"
David Schraeger, a state employee and shop steward with CWA Local 1038, explained the all-too-common employers' practice of retaining earned wages. "This conduct is illegal even if the employees are undocumented," said Schraeger. In conclusion, he denounced the two-pronged attacks on public employees and immigrants as scapegoating tactics used by politicians like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who blame the harsh economic situation of the state on the working class rather than the millionaires.
