CHICAGO—Organized labor and its allies are turning out the troops en masse in 600 marches nationwide in what is the largest U.S. celebration of May Day, the international workers’ holiday, in years. And the message is the need to resist and turn back the Trump administration’s attacks on workers, immigrants, and all sectors of the population in the country.
Rallies, marches, speeches, and much more will feature a variety of themes, most of them pointedly exposing the Republican president, the corporate criminal class he speaks for, and his actions against workers and unions, especially federal and other unions.
“There will be no business as usual while they are disappearing people off the street, slashing critical services, and taking away our freedoms,” Saqib Bhatti, executive director of Bargaining for the Common Good, told Common Dreams. The group is a major promoter of the nationwide actions.
Trump, multibillionaire Elon Musk, and their billionaire supporters “are causing a crisis in our communities. We’re going to bring that crisis directly to their doorsteps,” Bhatti added.
Chicago march and rally organizers issued the most comprehensive statement of workers’ goals. That’s fitting because May Day commemorates the infamous Chicago police shooting of immigrant workers in Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886. Immigrant rights is the major theme of this year’s May Day events.
The police violently broke up the Haymarket workers’ peaceful protest for an eight-hour day by opening fire. The cops got off free, but eight workers’ leaders were arrested and convicted in a travesty of justice. Four were pardoned eight years later by pro-worker Illinois Democratic Gov. John Peter Altgeld, but three others went to the gallows, and a fifth swallowed smuggled-in poison.
This year’s Chicago rally will be at Union Park, starting at 11 a.m. It won’t be the only one.
“From kitchens in Queens to loading docks in Atlanta, working people are rising up,” the statement of the Chicago Federation of Labor and other organizers declares. “We are demanding a country that puts our families over their fortunes, public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, housing over homelessness.”
Tesla tycoon Musk, plus “Trump and their fellow profiteers are trying to create a race to the bottom—on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself. They want to erase labor rights, break our unions, and silence immigrant voices,” the Chicagoans said.
“May Day 2025, we are standing united. We’re organizing for a world where every family has housing, healthcare, fair wages, union protection, and safety—regardless of race, zip code, or immigration status.”
By contrast, Trump and his corporate class are “defunding our schools, privatizing public services, attacking unions, and targeting immigrant families with fear and violence. This is a war on working people, and we will not stand down.
“This May Day, we will turn the page. This is the beginning of a new era—one where working families lead, immigrants are protected, and no one is left behind. This is not charity. This is not a request. We are reclaiming our power from corporate elites, and we will not be intimidated by Trump, Musk, or their billionaire backers. They’ve ruled for too long. Their time is up.”
And the statement ends in all capital letters, “STOP THE BILLIONAIRE TAKEOVER. WE ARE THE MANY. THEY ARE THE FEW. THIS IS MAY DAY. JOIN US.”
The Communist Party USA issued a statement in solidarity with all the marchers and ralliers today:
“This International Workers’ Day, the Communist Party USA stands in solidarity with workers and oppressed people everywhere! From the picket lines to the streets, our working class is fighting back against exploitation, political repression, and the attacks on democracy. The Trump administration is waging an all-out war on our rights, our livelihoods, and our futures.
“Mass deportations, union busting, and racist scapegoating are weaponized to create fear, confusion, and disunity. ICE raids are targeting not only immigrant families but also activists standing with Palestine. Yet our resistance is growing — from strikes and workplace organizing to mass protests defending basic democratic rights.
“While the rich hoard record profits and pay off Wall Street, workers face soaring rents, stagnant wages, and slashed public services. Corporations price-gouge us at every turn, and Trump’s policies hand them even more power. Over 80% of voters see corporate greed as a top crisis. We must continue to build unity across every division the ruling class sows — racism, sexism, xenophobia, and anti-LGBTQ bigotry,” the party declared in its statement.
Billionaires attacking unions
“Billionaires are attacking unions and immigrants because they fear our collective power. But we’re not afraid,” said Jade Kelly, president of Communication Workers of America Local 7799 in Colorado. Labor, he added, “is building something stronger than fear. May Day isn’t a holiday, it’s a call to action for workers across the world.
“We’re reclaiming May Day in the spirit it was born, in solidarity with immigrants, in defense of all working people who make our schools run, our hospitals heal, our trains move, and our cities thrive.”
While May Day occurs on Thursday, May 1, campaigners in Dallas got a jump on everyone else, with a mass rally on April 27 downtown. The Dallas and Fort Worth AFL-CIOs and the Dallas chapter of the labor-backed Alliance for Retired Americans organized the peaceful protest at the Civic Garden against Trump’s mass firings of federal workers and mass deportations of migrants.
Nevertheless, police arrested two people, Dallas media reported: Tarrant County (Fort Worth) AFL-CIO Political Director Angi DeFelippo, a member of Operating Engineers Local 178, and Teamsters Local 767 member Rick Majumdar. No reasons were given, and the two were released—after a vigil by supporters in front of the jail—at 1:45 am on April 28.
Philadelphians will gather from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on May Day in front of City Hall to listen to labor’s longest congressional supporter, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “For the Workers, not the Billionaires. For the Immigrants, not the Billionaires. For the People, not the Billionaires” is the theme there.
The New York City Central Labor Council planned a May Day march in Manhattan, starting at Foley Square at 5 p.m. “Rally and march against attacks on workers!” organizers proclaimed. There will be marches on state capital buildings in Montpelier, Vt., Honolulu, and Atlanta, among others. Organizers say there will be marches in every state.
“Join us in to rally for International Workers’ Day and to fight back against the 100 days of chaos from D.C.,” the Montpelier organizers say. “It’s time to show them what they face for the next 100. We gather to celebrate our victories and to show our collective strength in this time of great need.”
D.C. march organizers will gather in Franklin Park, just blocks from both the White House and the AFL-CIO headquarters. Key themes will be to defend federal workers whom Trump has summarily fired, and migrants of color whom he ships—or plans to—out of the country.
“Thousands of immigrant essential workers, union members, families, and advocates will rally in the nation’s capital to demand safety on the job, legal protections, and an end to unjust deportations,” D.C. organizers said. “This year’s May Day action underscores the essential role immigrant workers play in powering the economy and the devastating impact of immigration enforcement” by Trump’s ICE agents “that rips families apart.”
The D.C. May Day march also comes as a daytime “Muskville” tent city has been established within sight of the U.S. Capitol. It’s housing fired federal workers, who are strategizing about job hunting, getting counseling, protesting, and receiving political education, too.
Muskville, of course, harkens back to the Hoovervilles of jobless workers and homeless families during the Great Depression. That crash began under another Republican president, Herbert Hoover, in 1929. The GOP’s extreme pro-capitalist policies both triggered the collapse and intensified it.
Iowa City, Iowa, will host a “Gran Marcha Aquí Estamos” to support immigrant workers. And San Diego will have strikers—Service Employees janitors at the UCSD Medical Center–marching with their union colleagues. “Get ready! We’re taking over the streets” from the hospital to Balboa Park on the Pacific Ocean, organizers proclaimed.
“Solidarity is a verb. It’s all about YOU taking action together with fellow workers and community members,” the San Diego-Imperial County Labor Council proclaimed.
Common Dreams contributed to this story.
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