‘Fighting for our rights is as American as apple pie’: Phoenix organizers call for unity on May Day

A coalition of labor and immigrant rights advocacy organizations held a press conference Thursday morning in Phoenix to promote an event being held in recognition of International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day.

Organizations participating in the event include VetsForward, National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON), Organized Power in Numbers, Unite Here Local 11 and Party for Socialism and Liberation Phoenix (PSL). Dubbed the “AZ May Day 2026: Arizonans Over Billionaires”, the rally is scheduled for May 1 at 5 p.m., and will take place at the Margaret T. Hance Park in Phoenix.

At the press conference, representatives from the participating organizations gave speeches about the significance of May Day and their motivations for the rally. 

This year marks the 140th anniversary of the original International Workers’ Day, originally commemorating the 1886 Haymarket Square Protest in Chicago where police opened fire into a crowd of protestors campaigning for the eight hour work day. For two decades now, the nationwide march has also been used to promote immigrant rights and call for comprehensive immigration reform, dating back to the historic megamarch “A Day Without Immigrants” that took place on May 1, 2006.

Along with this year’s rally, modern May Day organizers plan to commemorate the efforts of workers rights activists with a boycott call for no work, school or shopping on May 1.

“We will show that when the country doesn't work for us, we will shut it down,” Sebastian Del Portillo, campaign coordinator with Organized Power in Numbers, said at the Thursday morning event. “If you're feeling what this government is doing to us, if you're feeling what the billionaire class is doing to us, if you see it showing up on every price tag, if you feel it at the end of the month, if you're experiencing how it's degrading our quality of life, we invite you to join us.”

Mari Yepez, a member of Unite Here Local 11, shared the experience of two food service workers at Arizona State University: one donated plasma twice a week to provide for her family, while the other had been living in a shelter for nearly a year of her employment.

“It isn't just [them] — it's a lot of us who need things to change,” Yepez said. “I'm asking, if you're a member of a union, get active in your union. If you aren't in a union, join a union. And if you can't join a union, join together with your community because no one of us can win on our own.”

NDLON’s political director, Erika Andiola, spoke out against the targeting of day laborers by immigration enforcement, which has led to fatalities in cases like Roberto Carlos Montoya. On Aug. 14, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agents chased down the 52-year-old in a Home Depot parking lot in Monrovia, California, leading to him being fatally struck by a vehicle.

On May 1, organizers said they are marching for them. “For Carlos, for Fernando, for the Zipps workers — for every single person who has been separated from their families, who has been taken for the only reason that they showed up to work,” Andiola said.

According to Ricardo Reyes, the executive director of VetsForward, domestic struggles like the ones Yepez and Andiola mention are further exacerbated by the costs of international wars being waged by the U.S. in the Middle East.

“We know the script,” Reyes said. “They tell us that killing will make us safe. They say that working people need to tighten our belts while they always find more money for bombs. We as veterans reject that lie.”

Dania Duran, an organizer with PSL, reminded the crowd of May Day’s history and its continuing relevance to modern workers’ struggles.

“They don’t want you to know that fighting for our rights is as American as apple pie,” Duran said. “We have too much on the line and not a moment to spare. We cannot wait for the midterms. We cannot wait for a politician to save us.”

The May 1 rally will feature a march, activist speakers, DJ’s and food trucks until 8 p.m.

River Graziano is a freelance journalist for CALÓ News. They grew up in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix and later attended ASU in Tempe, where they spent two years as an editor at The State Press. Their reporting with CALÓ News covers advocacy efforts impacting Latine communities across the Valley.