All Out For May Day & May 3rd!

By Cheryl LaBash
Published Apr 27, 2011 7:37 PM

The increased attacks on both immigrant and non-immigrant workers show the need for the most united, militant action possible on May Day. What became International Workers’ Day originated in the U.S. out of the struggle of immigrants and other workers who in 1886 fought and died for the eight-hour workday and the right of all workers to a decent life.

In 2005 May Day was revived in the U.S. with a march in New York City organized by the Million Worker March Movement. In 2006, as repression of immigrants reached a fever pitch, May Day exploded. Millions poured into the streets throughout the U.S. on May 1 to demand legalization and rights for all workers. United mass action defeated the racist Sensenbrenner bill. In Los Angeles the “Day Without Immigrants” called for no work, no school, no shopping, no selling. Profits dropped at shuttered businesses.

This year May Day is the next nationwide step to push back the union-busting attacks launched in Wisconsin against our jobs, communities and even democratic voting rights. In a welcome development, the organized labor movement is mobilizing and uniting with the immigrant movement in many areas.

MAY DAY — New York City

May 1st where? Union Square!

Gather at 12 noon at Union Square
14th St. & Broadway, Manhattan

March to Foley Square for closing Unity Rally

Welcome Clarence Thomas, co-chair of the Million Worker March Movement and member of ILWU Local 10 (which closed the San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., ports on April 4) and Gilbert Johnson, President AFSCME Local 82 from Milwaukee, Wis.

• Stop the attacks on working families, organized & unorganized, & all working people around the globe • Jobs, education, housing, union rights & a living wage for all • Money for human needs, not for war

• Legalize the undocumented
• Stop the deportations

For New York see May1.info, 212-633-6646.

MAY DAY — Tucson, Ariz.

Resist! Stop the attacks on (im)migrants, our youth and all workers!

• Stop attacks on ethnic studies & public education • Stop attacks on (im)migrant communities • Stop attacks on public workers — NO union busting • Stop collaboration between the local & the federal police

• Stop militarization of border & the deaths
• Stop the deportations

Gather: Greyhound Park (SE corner of 4th Ave and 36th St) 9 a.m.; march to 11:30 a.m. rally at Armory Park (SE corner of 6th Ave & 13th St)

Tucson May 1st Coalition – tucsonmay1st.org

MAY DAY — Los Angeles

Gather 10 a.m. at Olympic & Broadway

Sponsor: So. California Immigration Coalition
Contact: call 323-602-3480 or 213-712-0370
or email contact@immigrationcoalition.org

• Full legalization for all now • Stop ICE deportations now • No guest worker (aka bracero) program • Workers’ right to organize

• Stop 287(g) and “secure communities”

MAY DAY — Milwaukee, Wis.

Solidarity March for Immigrant and Worker Rights

1:30 p.m.: Assemble at Voces de la Frontera

5th St. & Washington 2 p.m.: March to Veterans’ Park 3 p.m.: Rally featuring AFL-CIO Int’l Pres. Richard Trumka & Voces de la Frontera Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz

• Stop racist Arizona copycat law
• Defend in-state tuition for immigrant students
• Defend collective bargaining rights
• Stop Walker’s budget cuts to education & health care

MAY DAY — San Francisco

Gather at 24th & Mission, 11:30 a.m.
March at noon to 1 p.m. rally at Civic Center

The San Francisco Labor Council endorses “A day without workers” and supports the right of affiliates to engage in work stoppages, sick-outs, and any other solidarity actions on May Day. A nine-day march from San Francisco to the state Capitol will step off after the rally. It will join the Teachers’ Union tent city for public education on May 9 in Sacramento, Calif.

• One world, one movement: immigrant rights are workers’ rights
• Stop the attack on all working families and working people around the globe

MAY 3 — Raleigh, N.C.

Defend Education & All Public Services

The North Carolina Association of Educators is organizing a massive rally at the North Carolina General Assembly against deep budget cuts proposed by the legislature. Buses are being organized from across the state. Many organizations and coalitions working to defend the public sector — unions, students and community groups — will be out in force.

3 p.m.: Student and Youth Rally for Education and Public Services, N.C. State University Bell Tower

4 p.m.: One Voice Rally at N.C. General Assembly, 16 W. Jones St.

Contact: Raleigh@fistyouth.org, call 919-604-8167, or visit www.onevoicerally.com.