Join Meidas and the AFL-CIO for May Day actions!

Join us at an event near you!

Written by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler

Source: Shutterstock.com

If you’re a worker in this country, May Day is your day.

The American labor movement has celebrated this day for 140 years now. Honoring all those who came before—who stood on picket lines, went on strike, stood up to power, in a lot of cases were killed—so that we could have the weekend, and a 40-hour workweek, and safety on the job.

For the labor movement, Workers Memorial Day and May Day aren’t just days of reflection—they are days of demand. We stand up for a worker-centered vision of America as we fight back against attacks on our health and safety, our civil rights and our very freedom to organize.

This week we observed Workers Memorial Day, which is when we honor those who were hurt, got sick or lost their lives on the job. Across the country we held commemorations, remembrances, vigils, religious services, rallies and actions to defend workers’ health and safety protections.

And every year we release our Death on the Job report, which is the only comprehensive report on the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers.

As the old union saying goes, “Don’t mourn, organize,” and for May Day we will be holding events including labor-hosted rallies, marches, protests, concerts, picnics, festivals, trainings and town halls, and working with community and movement partners to support thousands more local events.

This is the moment to do what we do best—mobilize—and make the biggest statement yet, that we’re not going to stand for what’s happening right now.

Workers across this country—in big cities, in small towns, deep in rural America—we’re all connected by the frustration, the anger we feel with the status quo.

Eighty-seven percent of Americans say we are in a cost-of-living crisis.

Ninety percent are stressed about the price of groceries. Paychecks aren’t stretching to the end of the month. Rent is still too damn high.

The bosses and the CEOs—none of them give a damn what it’s really like for the rest of us.

And the powers that be in this country—they want to keep it that way.

We saw that again this week with the Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais that is so clearly an attempt to silence us. Silence workers of color. Silence communities from being able to make their voices heard.

It’s a direct attack on all of us—because they know how powerful we are when we build a movement like this that brings people together no matter their race, identity, orientation—all of us.

And we’re going to keep the May Day momentum going every day from now through November. Labor is going to be out there in the streets and at our worksites. Making sure everyone knows the issues at stake in the next election. That we’re protecting everyone’s right to vote and uniting working people around our values and our economic demands.

We are done being divided by people who don’t know what it’s like to struggle.

Thank you for all you’ve done, and I’m looking forward to being out there in solidarity with all of you.

So please join the Meidas Mighty and us for May Day!