May 1 is International Workers’ Day, a holiday meant for the celebration of workers in the majority of countries across the globe — although not officially the United States, which celebrates in September.
Nevertheless local groups supporting workers — documented and undocumented — have gathered on May 1 for the past 17 years to march through Seattle in recognition of the struggles that immigrants and workers face, and to push for policies that address their pressing concerns of the day.
The May 1st Action Coalition, El Comité and more than 60 organizations coordinated to put on this year’s march, which will kick off at 11 a.m. at Judkins Park on Monday, May 1. The march comes at a tense time in which the rights of immigrants, and their place in this country, have been caught in a sick game of tug-of-war between a nationalist, populist agenda enacted at the federal level and localities that have vowed to put federal funding on the line to protect their residents.
Every year has a theme of sorts, a message chosen by their general assembly, said Oscar Rosales Castañeda, a spokesperson for El Comité, a social justice organization focused on civil, labor and union rights. The first action in 1999 sought amnesty for folks already in the country. Others have focused on trade deals with negative consequences for workers or women’s issues.
This year is all about protection for communities and the environment, Castañeda said.
“Many of us are being attacked in different ways, at the local scale as well as the national scale,” Castañeda said. “The theme of the march is to defend our communities.”
The racist rhetoric issued by the Trump campaign in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the pressure from Trump’s White House to add billions in the budget for the proposed “border wall” and the uncertainty over the fate of those who have been vetted and gone through legal channels to change their documentation status are just some of the factors that have created additional insecurity for people whose lives are already insecure. The atmosphere is reflected in headlines about increasing anxieties among immigrant communities and the rise of hate crimes directed at them.
Workers’ organizations have also been feeling the pressure. Trump’s first nominee for secretary of labor, Andrew Puzder, was a critic of minimum wage increases and worker protections put in place by the Obama administration. The newest nominee, Alexander Acosta, was once on the National Labor Relations Board and has fewer labor-related skeletons in his closet, although some worry about his willingness to go along with Trump-era labor policies.
Environmental issues intersect with those of workers and immigrants, said Jessica Koski, spokesperson for the Sierra Club, which is working with a team of other environmental groups to host a pre-rally rally that will focus on environmentalism.
“Generally speaking, it’s the folks who contributed least to the problem that are the worst and hardest hit,” Koski said, pointing to heat waves that hurt local agricultural workers and climate change forcing global migration.
So far, only two groups have applied for permits on May Day, the March for Workers and Immigrant Rights and the Veterans Against War, according to the Office of Economic Development and Office of Film + Music.
That doesn’t mean it will be the only action in town.
In 2016, a May Day Anti-Capitalist March began at Westlake and raged through the downtown area before being corralled in SoDo, leading to nine arrests. It was flashy and drew attention away from the worker march, which Castañeda addressed in an op-ed printed in Real Change.
Ultimately, it’s impossible to control what media choose to cover, Castañeda said.
“All we can really do is continue organizing and building at the community level,” he said.
Ashley Archibald is a Staff Reporter covering local government, policy and equity. Have a story idea? She can be can reached at ashleya (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Twitter @AshleyA_RC
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