Thousands expected for May Day march

In the early morning hours, thousands of people throughout Los Angeles County began commuting and prepping for local rallies and marches, commemorating International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day.

In Los Angeles, people began gathering in Downtown L.A. under the direction of various immigrant and worker rights organizations, including Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), Latino Equality Alliance, United Teacher Los Angeles Union (UTLA), tService Employees International Union, National Union of Healthcare Workers and Democratic Socialists of America – Los Angeles, among others. 

The march, which began at 9 a.m., is currently en route to L.A.’s Little Tokyo.

With this year’s May Day slogan,“One Struggle, One Fight—Workers Unite!”, as a guiding north star, thousands of essential workers, union members, families and advocates gathered to rally and protest to demand job safety, legal protections and an end to unjust deportations. 

This year’s May Day is expected to be one of the largest in L.A.’s history. 

Like every year, a big part of International Workers’ Day is also about celebrating and honoring the strength of workers across California, as well as showing support for local labor movements, the contributions of immigrant workers and the dignity of all working-class people in the U.S. 

People like Maria, who immigrated to the U.S. 24 years ago from Mexico City, are the center and driving force behind the May 1st initiative.

Maria, who from time to time cleans homes in different parts of L.A. County, was once a janitor for several years, where she experienced verbal abuse and harassment and toxic behavior from her employees, who, she later found out after she filed a lawsuit, were also stealing her wages. 

“It was a hard time,” she told CALÒ News. “It wasn’t right away, but that’s how I became civically engaged and engaged with my community, because I saw what was happening to me and the other people I was working with. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Latino community, we are not fairly connected to resources. Many of us do not know our rights … and the fact that we too, even as immigrants, deserve to work in places that respect us.”

Since then, more than nine years ago, Maria became a promotora and a janitor rights activist. She is a member of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund (MCTF), a statewide janitorial watchdog group that investigates wage theft and has helped deliver justice to workers via settlements and other immigrant rights groups like CHIRLA. 

Although she is not currently working as a janitor, she trains other janitors and also leads train-the-trainer sessions at women’s centers.

“All of us as workers need to be more united than ever before,” Maria said when talking about this year’s May Day. “With the ICE raids that we have seen, within the ongoing fear, we all must be united. The government needs to see that we are big in numbers.”

Yardenna Aaron, executive director of the MCTF, said that although every May Day is important, this year’s feels even more urgent as a way to honor and advocate for workers' rights. 

“ This one feels different,” she said. “Workers are activated in ways that we haven't seen in prior years. It's very important to us to be able to come together collectively and also be able to have that unified voice for worker solidarity. Threats of deportation, wage theft, unsafe working conditions and retaliation are not acceptable. Now is the time, more than ever, that we need to protect both civil and labor rights.”

Aaron said that MCTF participates every year on May Day. Since they are a statewide organization with six offices, the members of the organization attend their local marches together and in unity. She said in the last few months, with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement priorities being one of workers’ and their members’ biggest worries, MCTF swiftly pivoted its field strategy to empower workers through immigration-focused “know your rights” workshops. 

“It was a natural extension, because our bread and butter has been educating members of their rights in the area of wage and hour theft as well as their local labor laws. But now what we've been seeing with the [ICE] raids or the impact of immigration policies on the communities that we serve, we knew we had to provide this service since many of the labor workers are also undocumented,“ she said. “We realized the type of support that our communities needed was different but necessary.” 

Aaron said the march is also a time and place to stand in solidarity with workers, many of whom are undocumented or have families of mixed and multiple statuses. The Golden State is estimated to have around 1.8 million undocumented immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center. “ California is going to keep working and we're going to keep pushing back and we're going to keep pushing for justice. If we stand together, especially on days like May Day, where we amplify our power, we'll be able to make sure that California remains an example on the worker and employer side as a shining beacon for our country.”

Other May Day rallies and marches are also scheduled to take place in different corners of L.A. and neighboring cities. 

 CALÒ News will be at various marches throughout the region, bringing exclusive May Day coverage of these marches.  

Downtown Los Angeles

The rally will begin in downtown Los Angeles at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street to highlight contributions of immigrant workers, to lobby for their rights and “fight fascism."

West Lake - MacArthur Park 

Today, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in  MacArthur Park,  the Community Self-Defense Coalition, made up of groups and community organizations, including Unión del Barrio, Stop LAPD Spying and the Palestine Youth Movement, will begin a separate rally and march at the east end of the park. 

 Boyle Heights 

Today, beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Mariachi Plaza, Centro CSO will lead a march under the slogan “Families Unite to Say No to Deportations!” 

Long Beach

The Long Beach chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice will host a rally at Lincoln Park, 101 Pacific Ave., Long Beach, starting at 5 p.m. Organizers are requiring face coverings at the event.