Philadelphia, May 1 – Dozens of organizations and hundreds of workers are celebrating this year’s upsurge in labor organizing at Amazon, Starbucks and hundreds of other workplaces and communities by joining an International Workers Day march in Philadelphia streets with signs, flags and banners.
The day’s first rally, organized by the Workers Solidarity Network, begins at 7th and ArchStreets at 10:30am where the Black History Museum and Federal Detention Center arelocated. Participants will march, eventually joining El Paro Philly, Juntos, & others at arally at 5th & Market. From there the migrant-led march will make its way to 9th &Washington, where there will be a cultural event.
Dozens of unique colorful three-dimensional signs created with the help ofthe arts organization Spiral Q featuring large hands grasping workerstools, emblazoned with workers and community demands, promise todraw a lot of attention.
Speakers will be connecting the struggles of all workers; undocumented, incarcerated, gig, Black and Brown Lives Matter, unemployed, service, migrant, tech, warehouse, coffeeshop, healthcare, domestic, agricultural, education, childcare, LGBTQ+, disabled and more, all fighting for justice and liberation!
“I am marching on May Day to show the power of a united working class. The so-called leaders in Washington have abandoned workers and left us at the mercy of corporate greed. It’s time for worker solidarity because together we can topple the status quo and end exploitation by the bosses,” said Marie Kelly, Registered Nurse with over 40 years work experience in Philadelphia hospitals.
“We live in a world where a small group of American oligarchs control what we are allowed to read, hear, and see from the media, allowing this elite layer of society to shape public consciousness and popular sentiments in order to manipulate us, extract our labor and resources, and sacrifice our lives in pursuit of their own power and greed. They are eroding our collective agency, sending our children to die in wars for profit, bust our unions to easily extract our resources and labor, and pit us against each other along racial and national lines, leaving us as individuals at the mercy of their grotesque power. On May Day, we march to continue aggregating our collective power, to strengthen solidarity among workers across all their artificial divides, to protect our planet and each other, and organize against their insatiable appetites,” said Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa.
May 1 is an international day of struggle and celebration in honor of billions of workers fighting exploitation and oppression. May Day, celebrated around the world as International WorkersDay, commemorates May 1st, 1886, when hundreds of thousands of U. S. workers engineered astrike in Chicago and other cities for an eight-hour day.
Endorsing organizations include Philly Workers Solidarity Network; Philly Boricuas; Black Alliance for Peace; Philly Water Protectors; Workers World Party – Philly; Freedom RoadSocialist Organization – Philly; International Workers of the World (IWW) Philly; Coalition forPeace Action; Veterans for Peace – Philly; Divest Philly from War; Party for Socialism andLiberation – Philly; Save the UC Townhomes; Mobilization4Mumia; Love Not Phear; ProtectSquirrel Hill; Extinction Rebellion; Peace, Justice and Sustainability Now; ANAKBAYANPhiladelphia
