May Day rally in downtown Phoenix draws hundreds in support of labor, immigrant rights

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Margaret T. Hance Park in downtown Phoenix on Friday evening in honor of International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day.

The event, put on by a coalition of local advocacy organizations, featured music, food trucks and a resource fair where attendees could learn more about the organizing groups. Even before the rally’s official start time of 5 p.m., a large crowd had already gathered at the park.

This year marks the 140th anniversary of the commemoration of International Workers’ Day in the U.S. For two decades, 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” on May 1, 2006.

That same energy, tethered to a strong opposition to the Trump administration, was felt throughout Friday’s rally, which mimicked events happening across the country as cities heeded the May Day call for a general strike of “no work, no school, no shopping.”

For organizations like Unite Here Local 11, a union representing hospitality workers in Arizona and California, the rally’s favorable turnout sent an important message.

Eric Cadman with Unite Here pointed to the current contract fight taking place between Aramark and dining hall workers at Arizona State University, where the organizing employees are demanding higher wages and benefits.

According to Cadman, them being present on May Day shows “we can organize people at any day of the week, any time of the year,” he said in an interview with CALÓ News. “It doesn't matter that the semester is ending… we have the ability to grow and get our people out here.”

Others said they see the event’s popularity as a hopeful sign for a future general strike. Hope, a Valley resident who asked not to be identified by her full name for safety reasons, said the lack of infrastructure to support striking workers kept her from doing just that this year, but she sees the potential for change.

“It seems really scary and I know a lot of people who are like, ‘I can't do that,’ and I am one of those people right now. So, I'm trying to do my best to educate myself,” Hope said. “There's a lot of people here. So, it's really exciting to be like, ‘okay, we're all of the same mindset.’ We're all going to go out and be like, ‘We can do this in the future, guys.’”

By the time speakers from local organizations stepped onto the main stage set up at Hance Park, the crowd had more than doubled in size.

Sebastian Del Portillo, a campaign coordinator for Organized Power in Numbers, addressed the financial struggles Americans face and called out the Trump administration for favoring the wealthy.

While a recent White House release touts “exceptional strength and accelerating momentum of the American economy” under Trump, a study from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth found that the overall economic performance one year into Trump’s second presidency measured similarly to the same year prior, with one significant exception: the labor market, which was weaker than in 2024.

According to the report, “Americans reported a lot of disappointment and frustration with the economy, even more than in previous years. This disappointment might reflect the weaker labor market, the lack of major improvement in inflation, widening inequality, or some combination of those and other factors.”

“We are uniting, not just here, but nationally, to demand a system and a country that works for us, that [puts us] at the center,” Del Portillo said. “We have a shared responsibility. We're here because we decided to show up for each other today.”

Emmett Burnton, who won the Arizona Teacher of the Year award in 2025, highlighted Arizona’s low education rankings, the uncertainty of school funding and how that could impact future activism as his reasons for being present at the rally.

“When I started as a teacher, there was a dismissive attitude of, ‘What does the union do for me? What does it do in a right-to-work state?’ But when I see everybody here, this is what a union does. This is why we fight the fight that we do,” he said.

After hearing from the first set of speakers, demonstrators marched through downtown Phoenix. At several stops along the route, speakers addressed the crowd on issues of worker safety and voting rights.

Vanessa Martinez, a member of Unite Here and an employee at a Panda Express located along the march’s route, spoke to the working conditions inside the fast-food restaurant.

“I worked the entirety of last summer without an air conditioner. It was absolutely suffocating,” Martinez said. “My coworkers, they're older. They have chronic health conditions. They were dizzy at work. They were nauseous. They had headaches.”

Employees there — also staffed by Aramark — walked out in March due to unsafe working conditions.

Tearanie Chinn, the Senior Democracy Defense manager for Arizona at All Voting is Local, called out recent attacks from the Trump administration aimed at mail-in voting and encouraged demonstrators to head to the polls during November’s midterm elections.

“In America, voters choose their leaders. Leaders do not choose their voters,” Chinn said. “So I urge you, stay informed. Speak out against anti-voter bills. Help your communities understand what is at stake.”

After returning from the march, speakers from Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), Phoenix-Metro Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and UFCW Local 99 addressed the crowd regarding next steps for the movement.

Morningstar Bloom, representing Phoenix-Metro DSA, called on attendees to deepen their involvement with advocacy groups and unions. 

“If you are not in a community org[anization], if you are not in a union, this is your moment, your time has come,” Bloom said. “It is time to step up and build those systems with your neighbors, with your friends, with the people you don't even know are about to be your comrades.”

Lastly, Martin Hernandez, the organizing director for United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 99 and longtime immigrant rights activist, ended his speech with three questions, each of which received raucous cheers from demonstrators.

“Can we commit to organize ourselves as the workers? Can we commit to talk to our neighbors about coming together? Can we commit that when it comes, election day, we all go and beat the freaking politicians out of the office?”

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.