Folks,
Happy May Day Folks. Nationwide, we have seen over 1,000 protests on May Day and Payday is doing an update on those rallies.
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Palestine & Immigration Linked at Unprecedented Pittsburgh May Day March
Marching through the streets of Pittsburgh, it was the largest crowd that I have seen on May Day in my decade of covering them in Pittsburgh.
The protest came in the wake of deadly storms that left more than 200,000 in Pittsburgh without power. Miracle Jones, the public policy director of 1hood Media, told a crowd of nearly 800 that the storms were a reminder of the importance of workers.
“The past 72 hours have shown people how important workers are to this region,” says Jones. “There have been individuals from all across the country that have driven to Pennsylvania to help restore the electricity with Duquesne Light. There have been workers who've been sleeping in their trucks. The past 72 hours have shown that people aren’t being paid what they deserve.”
On May Day, the full scale of energy uniting the left was seen in Pittsburgh as people marched under the slogan “Border walls have got to go, from Palestine to Mexico.”
Latino labor council leader Guilmero Perez says that the crowd was the largest in his decade of organizing, the largest crowd ever.
“We've been doing this since 2014 and this is the biggest turnout we have ever had,” said Perez. “Immigrants are under attack in a way people haven't seen before, and people are concerned, because we know it starts with immigrants, but it doesn't end with immigrants.”
Wearing a button featuring Irish and Palestinian flags reading “Irish Americans Against Genocide,” United Electrical Workers (UE) North East President George Waksumunski said these May Day protests demonstrated the ”big umbrella energy” of having such a diverse movement.
“We've never seen so much mobilization. Our unions getting out in the street in bigger numbers than we ever known before,” said Waksmunski. “It's a terrifying time on one hand, but it's an exciting time because working people, working class, is rising up.”
SMART Union Rallies for Abrego Garcia to Be Returned from El Salvador
In front of the White House today, an unprecedented coalition of construction unions and immigrants’ rights groups rallied to demand the release of SMART union member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, spoke about the effect that his illegal deportation to El Salvador has had on her.
“This pain is indescribable,” Sura said at the rally. “My children have been left to live in the silence of their father’s absence and they miss him more than anything.”
For more on the rally, check out The Washington Post.
First Private Sector Hospital Strike in New Orleans
In New Orleans, nurses at the University Medical Center became the first nurses at privately owned hospital in the state to ever go on strike. They say that understaffing and underfunded hospitals often leave them vulnerable to abuse and violence.
“We won’t quit. We’re the ones taking care of our patients every day. What we’re asking for is enough nurses to do our jobs and enough respect in our hospital to be heard,” the National Nurses Union said in a statement.
Striking Nursing Home Workers Energized by May Day Protests
In Connecticut, thousands of nursing home care workers, have just given notice that they intend to strike in 10 days. They say they were enthused by energy that they saw at the May Day rally in Hartford.
“Because we’re short staffed, the quality of care is minimal. We have to do the minimum for our residents and it’s not right. It’s a good career but people are running away from it because it doesn’t pay well,” Johannah Alabi, a nursing assistant, told the crowd.
UAW President Calls for May Day Strike….in 2028
Finally, while many unions participated in marches and protests, few engaged in direct workplace action in solidarity with those on strike today.
However, UAW President Shawn Fain did call for a May Day strike, but not until in 2028. He says that this will give unions enough time to coordinate their contracts.
“We set our next contract expiration at the Big Three for May 1, 2028. International Workers Day,” Fain wrote in The Nation. “And we called on unions across the country to do the same, and get ready for a bigger strike than any of us had ever seen.”
For more on Fain’s call for a May Day strike in 2028, check out The Nation.
See yinz tomorrow with more updates. Keep sending story ideas to melk@paydayreport.com
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