May Day Protests Demand Nation Puts Workers over Billionaires

On May 1, workers, students, and families across the nation rallied, marched, and took action across the country to demand the nation puts workers over billionaires. The National Education Association (NEA), a key organizer of May Day events, helped lead a march in downtown Washington DC—one of 4,000 events nationwide.

Holding signs reading “Workers over Billionaires,” “No ICE—Stop the Deportations,” and “Teachers Deserve More,” the demonstrators began Friday’s rally in the nation’s capital across from the White House and ended at Franklin Square. 

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is a holiday celebrating workers and the history of labor organizing. Every year on May 1st, working people around the world join together for a day of demonstrations to promote international solidarity and worker power. May Day dates back to 1886 when hundreds of thousands of workers in Chicago called for an 8-hour workday.

The May Day message is resonating more than ever today. The Trump administration and its allies are siding with billionaires and corporations in the form of exorbitant tax breaks as regular workers and their families continue to struggle just to make ends meet. Health care costs are skyrocketing, along with groceries, rent, and, more recently, gasoline. Politicians are also underfunding our schools—especially in Black and brown neighborhoods—creating the very problems they later blame on teachers and paving the way for more destructive budget cuts.   

“We will use our power to demand people over profits,” NEA President Becky Pringle told the crowd on Friday. “We will not be quiet. Not now, not ever. …That’s why we’re here: joining millions across the country—organizing to fight and determined to win. We demand fully funded schools, affordable housing, and fair tax systems. We will demand freedom for our students, freedom for our educator, we demand freedom for all people who call America home. We march today, we organize tomorrow and we vote in November!