NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Workers rallied throughout New York City on Sunday for May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day.
Union organizers, workers and activists gathered at Union Square, Washington Square Park, Maria Hernandez Park and elsewhere to call for better working conditions and union expansion.
The Union Square Park rally focused on union busting. Participants listened to speeches by two Starbucks workers who were fired in Memphis while trying to unionize their workplace.
“Workers today are able to enjoy benefits, whether it's the eight-hour workday, whether it’s the five-day work week, all of those were pushed by unions,” said Beto Sanchez, one of the employees who lost his job while unionizing.
The Union Square group marched to Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon where workers on Staten Island recently formed a union. They then marched to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, where workers voted to unionize on April 1. Finally, the group marched to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s penthouse in the West Village.
Both Amazon and Starbucks have been accused of illegal union busting tactics by the National Labor Relations Board.
At Washington Square Park, organizers demanded worker protections and a pathway to citizenship for immigrant workers.
Workers in Bushwick organized a Festival of Resistance at Maria Hernandez Park that featured live music and family friendly arts-and-crafts activities.
May 1 was chosen as the date for International Workers’ Day in 1887 to commemorate the Haymarket Affair, an 1886 incident in Chicago in which police fired into a crowd of striking workers, sparking a riot. Four labor leaders were executed after the riot.
In 1887, President Grover Cleveland pushed to create a labor holiday in September instead of May out of fears that commemorating the Haymarket Affair would reflect poorly on the United States and encourage further labor action.
The American Labor Day was made an official holiday in 1894, but workers all over the world still celebrate a labor holiday on May 1.
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