CHICAGO'S NEAR WEST SIDE (WBBM Newsradio) -- Labor, elected and community leaders urged thousands of people to keep fighting for workers' rights during a May Day rally in Chicago's Union Park.
"You are the center of the resistance," Chicago Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (D-3rd District) told the crowd during her appearance on stage at the rally organized by labor unions including the Chicago Teachers Union. Her comment was met with cheers as supporters waved protest signs, many in English and Spanish.
CTU president Stacy Davis Gates - who fought with Chicago Public School leadership to allow teachers and students to take part in Friday's rally - offered her perspective as a history teacher to provide context for the day.
"I am saying to you today, workers, that we must not just secure our democracy," Davis Gates urged supporters. "We must expand our democracy."
Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson - himself a former history teacher and CTU organizer - told the crowd that all workers deserve respect.
"We're gonna make sure that all the working people of this city get the benefits they deserve!" said the mayor.
Other speakers called for increases in the national minimum wage, an end to the U.S. military operation in Iran and for the federal government to abolish ICE.
The Haymarket Memorial in Chicago's West Loop.
Geoff Buchholz
Earlier, union and elected leaders used the May Day holiday to unveil plaques honoring the United Auto Workers union and Italian labor organizers in a Friday morning ceremony at the Haymarket Memorial, 175 N. Desplaines St.
UAW national president Shawn Fain told people attending the unveiling that May 1 should be the country's true "Labor Day," and said this year's commemoration is coming at a critical time for the working class.
United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain speaks at the Haymarket Memorial in Chicago.
Geoff Buchholz
"Today's got to be more than a commemoration," Fain said. "It's got to be a revival."
Labor leaders also ran through a roll call detailing union members in negotiation with everyone from Starbucks to the Brookfield Zoo.
The Haymarket Memorial honors victims of the 1886 rebellion by workers that marked the beginning of the modern labor movement.
