Thousands of people across the United States are expected to join an economic blackout on Friday, International Workers' Day, as part of 3,500 'May Day Strong' events nationwide. Organizers are calling for 'no school, no work, no shopping,' with walkouts, marches, block parties, and other gatherings planned throughout the day.
Protests Underway on East Coast
On the East Coast, protests began early in the morning. In Manhattan, a group of Amazon workers, Teamsters, and local politicians marched from the New York Public Library's main branch to Amazon's corporate offices, demanding the company cut contracts with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. In Washington, D.C., protesters with Free DC shut down intersections, holding banners reading 'WORKERS OVER BILLIONAIRES' and 'HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE.'
Convergence of Movements
May Day has long been a day of protest for the labor movement, and this year, various active movements are converging to demand no ICE, no war, and taxing the rich. The May Day Strong coalition includes labor unions, immigrant rights groups, political organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America, and the organizers behind the No Kings protests. Friday's economic disruption builds on a similar effort in Minnesota in January, when tens of thousands of Twin Cities residents walked out to protest federal immigration actions.
Neidi Dominguez, founding executive director of Organized Power in Numbers and an executive team member of May Day Strong, said they expect more than double the number of May Day events compared to last year.
Economic Blackout as 'Structure Test'
Leah Greenberg of Indivisible, a key organizer behind No Kings, described the May Day economic blackout as a 'structure test' for the movement. 'We are asking people to take a step into further exerting their power in all aspects of their lives – as workers, as students, as members of local organizing hubs,' she said. 'It's important as it builds muscles towards greater non-cooperation.'
Teachers and Students Join
Teachers' unions and students are actively participating, continuing months of organizing against ICE. At least 15 school districts in North Carolina have given teachers the day off to join a statewide 'Kids Over Corporations' rally for public education funding. In Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union successfully advocated for May Day to be recognized as a 'day of civic action.'
'As educators, we feel a very real accountability to the young people in the families that we serve,' said Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Federation of Teachers. 'We want to connect people not just to the affordability crisis but the crisis of our institutions being marginalized in this moment and the impact on our young people.'
Sanshray Kukutla, a student at Purdue University and organizer with the Sunrise Movement, is helping coordinate a local walkout. 'We're taking collective action to send a message to the billionaire class: it's our labor, our spending, and our participation that keeps the whole system running, and if we don't work, they don't have profits,' said Kukutla.
Building Toward a General Strike
Organizers say the day of action aims to build toward a general strike, which has been effectively outlawed since the 1946 Taft-Hartley Act and has not occurred in the US since. As a workaround, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, has called for unions to work toward a general strike on May 1, 2028, by aligning union contract expiration dates.
