Occupy Wall Street in New York called for a nationwide May Day General Strike. Cities and towns across the United States are heeding the call. Workers will be striking, students will be leaving classes, and banks and other large corporations will be forced to close for the day across the nation. May 1st, 2012, promises to be the largest American May Day since the Immigrant Rights May Day in 2006 and probably the most widespread and furthest reaching in decades.

Local plans include a People's Festival on Market Street in San Francisco; support for workers at the Golden Gate Bridge, the SF Ferry Building, and other locations; the rebirth of the San Francisco Commune; a work stoppage by ILWU Local 10 which will effectively shut down the Port of Oakland for the day; a large March for Dignity and Resistance from Fruitvale to downtown Oakland; a one-day strike by thousands of California Nurses Association nurses in the Bay Area; autonomous actions; and much, much more.

Oakland — Occupied Oakland's May Daze | Occupy Oakland May Day Rally | May Day Oakland Police Riots: OPD Violate Their Own Crowd Control Policy Yet Again: video | Oakland May Day !!!!! (clips and cop watch) | Pic's of Oakland on May Day 2012 | Homies Empowerment en la marcha in Oakland | Oakland Police use Concussion Grenades and Extraction Teams on May Day 2012 | May Day in Occupy Oakland: Let a million seeds sprout | Denounce the attack on the Revolution Books table at Oscar Grant Plaza | Oakland Police January 28th Hit List. Who Is on the OPD List for May Day? | The Colonization of Occupy Oakland | Event Announcements: 8:30am M1 Oakland Gender Strike/General Strike: Anti-Capitalist March to shut down the banks | 12pm Everyone Converge on Downtown | 3pm March for Dignity and Resistance | May 1st Anti-Racist March: The Decolonial Carnaval | March with the Internationalist Contingent on May Day | Million Hoodie & Hijab contingent to march on May Day in Oakland | Bay Area Sutter Nurses Plan May 1 Walkout | Occupy Oakland May Day General Strike Press Conference, 4/26/12: video & photos | OCCUPY OAKLAND May 1 Strike posters + call to action | Poster series: Let us off from work on May Day, or else | Occupy Oakland Action Framework for May 1 - Blockades, Marches!

San Francisco — May Day Strike Shuts Down S. F. Ferry Service | May Day SF 2012 | Rise Up Mural on MayDay | May Day Creation: Rise Up Mural at Montgomery and Market | 888 Turk Raided In Early Morning Raid | SF Commune Solidarity Breakfast | Update on #SFCommune @ 888 Turk | may day sf: san francisco commune resurrected | Occupy Strikes Back: Revenge of the SF Commune | 888 Turk Raided? | May Day in the Mission | 888 Turk Street: Re-Occupied | The Strike Starts Early: Mission Police Precinct Attacked | Event Announcements: Golden Gate Bridge Labor Coalition updates. No more bridge rally, pickets instead | 10:30am Occupy Your Civil Liberties on May Day | 12pm The People's Street Festival - El Festival de Calle del Pueblo | 1:30pm May Day March to New SF Commune | 2pm San Francisco Commune - Housing & Social Center Occupation

Mountain View — May Day in Mountain View: Stop S-Comm

San Jose — Event Announcement: 3pm May Day March - A day without the 99%

Santa Cruz — Event Announcement and Coverage

Sacramento — Event Announcements: 11am Sacramento May Day Action and March | Anti-Capitalist Contingent At Sacramento May Day

Fresno — May Day in Fresno | Event Announcement: 5pm Primero de Mayo - May Day March

San Diego — Event Announcement: 11am May 1st Day of Action

Publish your own reports, photos, audio, and/or video to Indybay at http://www.indybay.org/publish.php!

See Also: Massive May Day Turnout Highlights Media's Disconnect From Reality | Corporate Media Bored With Occupy — and Inequality | Statement on Chris Hedges and the Black Bloc | May Day Protests for Justice | 100,000 march in Moscow and thousands march around the world for labor | May Day: A Radical Strike into the Belly of the Beast | ACLU and NLG Ask Oakland Police Department If It Seeks to Abandon Key Protections for Demonstrators | Occupy Oakland, Permitted Protest, and Police Repression | Occupy Oakland Will Provide Support If Workers Lead A Shutdown Of The Golden Gate Bridge | Fuck the Police 17 | Hella Occupy Oakland! 6 Month Anniversary | Occupy Earth Day Occupy Richmond March and Protest | Occupy Oakland Hoodie & Hijab March | Occupy Oakland Confronts Discriminatory Prosecutions by OPD and DA, 4/3/12: video & photos | Berkeley Police Price Quote For BearCat Armored Vehicle | Occupying a House Auction | /newsitems/2012/03/28/18710301.php | Occupy Oakland MARCH to Take Back the Town | Fuck the Police 14b | Fuck the Police 14a | Millionaires Tax Supporters Grapple with Withdrawal of Major Backers | Fuck the Police 13 | BENEATH poem | IC3: Defense Lawyer Threatened With Arrest, Police Report Doctored In Preliminary Hearing | New DIY Occupation Guide 2012 redux | Berkeley: Attack on the snitches at the Tang Center | Communiqué from Decolonize Oakland 3.18.12 | Oakland's FTP March | Berkeley: Rally and Speak Up Against Police Abuse | High Noon & Occupy at the Docks | Welcome Back to OGP | Oakland protests the latest atrocities in Afghanistan | Oakland LGBT Rally in Front of Courthouse to Respond to Hate Crimes Charges | Stay Away Orders Against Occupy Oakland Protesters Are Unconstitutional | Nell's friends stop auction of her home! | Occupy Oakland Protest for Tristan and Palestine | Fuck the Police March | Photos from Occupy Our Food Supply day at an East Oakland Community Garden | Did Somebody Say "Car Bloc"? | District Attorney O’Malley’s Strange Relationship to the Truth | FTP march in solidarity with Occupy CAL Berkeley and Athens part 2 | FTP March in solidarity with Athens and Occupy CAL Berkeley | Berkeley Police fumbles in a murder | Officer in Scott Olsen Incident Identified? (Article and Video)

Previous Related Indybay Features: Occupy the Farm Activists Reclaim Prime Urban Agricultural Land in SF Bay Area | Occupy Santa Cruz Supports the Santa Cruz Eleven | Wells Fargo Shareholder Meeting Invaded and Surrounded by Protesters in San Francisco | Snatch Squads at May 1st General Strike in Oakland? | 11 UC Davis Students, Professor, Charged for U.S. Bank Blockade | Occupy SF Liberates Vacant Building to Establish Social Center | Sacramento Protest Against Cuts To Education and Social Services | San Quentin Occupied on National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners | Occupy Oakland January 28th Move-In Day Ends with Hundreds of Arrests

Thousands of angry homeowners, immigrants, union members, Occupiers and community groups converged on the annual shareholders meeting of Wells Fargo Bank on April 24th. In a carefully choreographed protest, simultaneous marches left Justin Herman Plaza on the city's waterfront, site of the Occupy San Francisco encampment last fall. Demonstrators walked up parallel streets into the financial district, where they encircled the block in which the meeting was set to take place, in the Julia Morgan ballroom of the Merchant's Exchange Building. Beforehand, some demonstrators had moved into the building's lobby, while others chained themselves together, putting sleeves around their arms to make it hard for police to cut them apart to arrest them.

A group of religious, union and community representatives had purchased shares of stock in the bank, supposedly allowing them to attend the shareholders meeting. Some even held proxies, allowing them to vote the stock belonging to others. As the rally swirled outside, and speeches and songs filled the streets now vacant of their normal traffic, the police closed off the building and refused to let the shareholders inside.

Maria Poblete, from the housing rights organization Just Cause, and Cinthiya Muñoz, from Alameda County United to Defend Immigrant Rights, spoke from a flatbed truck in front of the bank, reminding the crowd of the reasons they'd brought their protests to the bank's doors. "Shareholders want to meet about how to best reap profits from foreclosures, for-profit prisons and detention centers, student loans, and tax evasion," Poblete shouted. "Today the bank can see that there's no more business as usual. We say no!"

Photos: 1 | 2

On April 18th, in one of the largest rallies in SEIU 1021's history, 23 members were arrested in front of Bank of America Wednesday for taking a stand against mega banks and corporations who have been cheating San Francisco residents for over a decade. At the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Market Street, more than 1,300 people were chanting “Let the People Go, Arrest the CEOs.” They were there to support the protesters, who sat in the crosswalk. By 6:30 PM, one by one each of the 23 protesters were handcuffed and put into the back of SFPD vans. On the front and back of each protester were large stickers that read “It’s time to draw the line: downtown greed or the city we need.”

“We chose to be arrested at a symbolic intersection: It’s the intersection that houses the Department of Human Resources and Bank of America, said Larry Bradshaw, Vice President of SEIU Local 1021. “That intersection symbolizes City Hall tax policies that prioritize tax cuts for the 1% while demanding pay and health care cuts for the 99%.” Research shows that only 10 percent of San Francisco’s registered businesses are paying the local payroll tax. The tax fails to tax highly profitable sectors of the economy such as banks like Bank of America and corporations.

Read More | Photos | NeedNotGreed.org

An assembly of UC Santa Cruz students, workers and community members have planned a day of action in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street's call for a worldwide general strike and the historical significance of May 1st, International Workers Day. This day of events will include rallies, poetry, performance, art, and education around the struggle of the 99% and the collective potential for social transformation. The action will begin with a kick-off rally at the Quarry Plaza on UCSC campus at 11:30 AM which will culminate in a late afternoon march to the downtown post office.

UCSC students and community members will rally at 4:30 pm at the corner of Pacific and Laurel. They plan to march down Pacific Avenue, and past Wells Fargo. At 5:30 pm, Occupy Santa Cruz and other community members will join the march at the post office where there will be a rally with rousing musical performances, a May Day pole, and several local speakers on workers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, and June ballot initiatives. Beginning at 6:30 pm, there will be food and games in San Lorenzo Park. At approximately 8:00 pm there will be a candlelight vigil on the courthouse steps commemorating all those who have died, been beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and otherwise made sacrifices in struggles for workers' justice around the world, from the Haymarket Riots of 1886 (which International Workers' Day commemorates) to today.

Dr. Zakk Flash observes, "The atmosphere across the globe seems pregnant with a revolutionary fervor unseen in recent years. The occupation at New York City’s New School in 2008 provided a glimpse into the possibilities of occupation when students seized their school building as a show of solidarity against the policies of a broken administration. The nascent student movement later reclaimed campuses across California, inspiring actions nationwide with the release of an influential text called "Communiqué from an Absent Future." At the same time, organizers linked themselves to demonstrations in Greece over the police murder of a 15-year old anarchist in the neighborhood of Exarcheia."

May 1st, 2012 in Santa Cruz | May Day: A Radical Strike into the Belly of the Beast

Demonstrators shut down the entrance of the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood City where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney held a fundraising dinner on March 26th. Several protest groups coordinated to produce a show of anger aimed at the presidential hopeful and wealthy attendees of the event. One group erected a giant Etch A Sketch outside the hotel entrance, making light of a recent Romney aide's gaffe; others mocked billionaire supporters of his campaign by wearing faux fur and pearls and lifting glasses of champagne.

Occupy Redwood City, Occupy San Jose, and Occupy San Francisco members joined labor groups on the sidewalk with drums and other musical instruments to augment loud chants. Occupy Oakland members came from the east side of the Bay to the peninsula event and shouted as the fundraiser guests arrived, "Dinner is over! Go home!

Photos: 1 | 2 Videos: 1

Local Service Employee International Union (SEIU) members participating in the Occupy Day of Action demonstrations which took place on bridges around the country, joined members of Occupy Santa Cruz and members of the local MoveOn.org council to rally at the Santa Cruz County courthouse on November 17 in support of improving and repairing local infrastructure to stimulate job creation. The demonstration began on Water Street Bridge where community members held signs along the pedestrian areas of the bridge. The group made its way over to the front steps of the county courthouse where a rally was held and short speeches were made, including those from a recent UC Santa Cruz graduate who is currently between homes, a representative from the office of assembly member Bill Monning, members of the SEIU, the local MoveOn.org council, and a member of Occupy Santa Cruz. Approximately 100-200 people participated in the event, and afterwards a large part of the group attended Occupy Santa Cruz's general assembly.

Read more and view photos | More photos

See also: Calling Deputies "Puppets" — Cause For Arrest? | Occupy Santa Cruz Addresses Sanitation Concerns | Occupation Encourages Locals to Abandon Big Five Banks | Responding to Sheriff Wowak's Whitewash of Abuse By His Deputies

Previous coverage: Occupy Santa Cruz Remains Committed Despite Raids by County Sheriffs and City Injunction | Occupy Santa Cruz Marches on Banks

In San Francisco, members of UNITE HERE Local 2 and their supporters in the labor movement marched on Labor Day, September 5th, to draw attention to Local 2's ongoing struggle with the Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt. The march began at Union Square and proceeded to Hotel Frank on Geary, then on to the Grand Hyatt on Stockton Street. Local labor turned out in solidarity with UNITE HERE Local 2's struggle to obtain a fair contract with Hyatt. Some of the many unions that came were The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), The Teamsters, The American Federation of Teachers, and the Labor Studies program at S.F. State University.

Similarly in Santa Clara, hotel service workers of the union UNITE HERE Local 19 marked Labor Day by picketing the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, which has been the target of a boycott campaign launched by the union six months ago. Hyatt workers, who have been without a contract with the hotel, have been demanding recognition of the union through a card-check/neutrality agreement.

San Francisco: Photos 1 | 2
Santa Clara: Read More

Three San José Council Members and Mayor Chuck Reed are pushing for a bill that would strip city workers of benefits and take away their collective bargaining rights. Activists say the proposed bill is similar to the attacks on workers' rights that were recently rammed through Wisconsin’s legislature by an anti-labor governor. On June 23rd, they rallied in front of City Hall.

Labor supporters speaking from a podium said that attempts to declare a fiscal emergency in order to resolve the city's budget problems is misguided at best, and the mayor's fiscal plan would allow the city to renege on its promise to pay specific benefits to city employees. They pointed out at that federal and state labor law cases have consistently held that these changes cannot be made unless it is done through collective bargaining. Protesters called for an end to the City's union-busting tactics with speeches, chants and songs.

Video | Photos: 1 | 2 | South Bay Labor Council

In the culmination of a week of protests against proposed budget cuts to education, protesters gathered in the state capitol building in Sacramento on May 9th. Demonstrators chanted slogans such as "They say cut back, we say fight back." Students lead the way and two hundred others joined in, including teachers and community leaders. Students had come from up and down the state, including a large contingent from UC Santa Cruz. Following the chanting, sixty-five protesters committed nonviolent civil disobedience by sitting down and refusing to leave the Rotunda after the Capitol closed to the public for the day. All sixty-five were arrested. Those arrested were held overnight, and were kept with their hands handcuffed behind their backs for the first six hours of their detainment. Only three of those arrested were charged with resisting arrest, while the rest were charged with misdemeanor trespass.

Video: 1 | 2 | Read More

Previous Related Indybay Feature: May Day 2011 for Labor and Immigrant Rights

On May 12th, Oakland Education Association (OEA) teachers and their supporters protested at the Wells Fargo bank on Broadway and 12th Street to demand that the bank use its wealth to stop the cuts in Oakland schools. Several staged a sit-in inside the bank branch and were arrested.

In announcing their action, Oakland Teachers declared: Oakland teachers are sick and tired that our schools suffer while the banks get a bailout, and we're fighting back. Wells Fargo received $25 Billion in bailout money. Wells Fargo made $12 Billion in 2010 and paid no taxes. Wells Fargo owns part of the debt of the Oakland Unified School District, a debt that increased drastically when the state took control of the district due to financial problems, leaving the district in worse financial shape than before the takeover.

Photos | Protest Announcement

Previous Related Indybay Feature: We are One Rallies in Solidarity with Wisconsin on April 4th

Auctioned off in a foreclosure sale one year ago, San Francisco's Hotel Frank in Union Square is now being run by anti-union hotel management company Provenance Hotels. Provenance has not honored the existing union contract; amongst other things it does not to contribute to workers' medical care and pensions. Staffing levels have decreased since Provenance took over and the management company has been charged with violating federal labor laws by the National Labor Relations Board. Meanwhile, local jazz club Yoshi's is getting a discount rate from Hotel Frank management and asking its musicians to cross a picket line and stay at the hotel while they are in town for performances.

Last week, the Portland Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and Seattle Solidarity Network organized a Day of Solidarity with Hotel Frank workers, holding picket lines at Provenance hotels in those cities.

Hotel Frank is under boycott and workers are picketing the hotel regularly on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 5:30pm and Fridays from 1:00 to 5:30pm.

Read more | Photos | Videos: 1 | 2 | 3

Boycott Hotel Frank Website

Around the world, workers united on May 1st for International Workers' Day — with marches and rallies. In Berkeley, students rallied and marched before heading to the larger gathering in San Francisco. In San Francisco, several thousand workers and supporters marched for immigrant rights and labor rights in San Francisco on May Day. In Sacramento, workers marched from the Capital Building to a rally at the California Democratic party convention. Five hundred people marched in downtown Fresno in support of immigrant rights and a rally was held at Eaton Plaza. KPFA dedicated the day's programming to May Day coverage.

Code Pink and others began an eight-day march to Sacramento to demand a just budget in California. The “Strike May 2011" march from San Francisco is scheduled to end on the Capital steps on Mother's Day, May 8th.

Berkeley: Photos
San Francisco: Video 1 | 2 | 3 | Audio 1 | 2 | Photos 1 | 2 | Event Announcements 1 | 2
Sacramento: Video | Event Announcements 1 | 2
Fresno: Photos
San Jose: Event Announcement
KPFA coverage: Audio
Strike May 2011: Read More | March Announcements 1 | 2 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8

See Also: SF TWU 250 A Bus Drivers Speak Out On Health & Safety On 2011 WMD | Japan May Day Protest Against Nuclear Power-Union Bureaucrats Call Off May Day Events | May Day Sharpens Struggle for Union Democracy: UAW Leaders Flee Vote Count

Previous Related Indybay Features: May Day in the Bay and Beyond (2010) | International Workers Day Mass Action in Defense of Families, Jobs, Immigrants (2009)

Supporters of International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 10 (S. F. Bay Area) rallied in downtown San Francisco on April 25th. At issue was the union's right to close the ports of Oakland, San Francisco, and other ports in the S. F. Bay Area. ILWU Local 10 closed the ports of San Francisco and Oakland for twenty-four hours on April 4th, as part of a national day of action for solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states. The employers association at the ports, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), has filed a lawsuit against Local 10 for the April 4th port closures. The PMA's suit seeks to prevent such future solidarity closures by the union.

Thousands of rallies and marches took place across the U. S. on April 4th, as part of the We Are One day of labor solidarity. Of all the actions taken by unions across the country, it was only Local 10 which chose to shut down the means of production. Speaker after speaker at the April 25th rally praised Local 10 as, “...the conscience of the U.S. labor movement,” “...the most militant and progressive union in the country,” “...a moral compass,” “...the heart and soul of the labor movement,” and said that they stood behind Local 10. Millie Cleveland ,of the OEA went further, “we don't want to stand behind Local 10, we want to stand beside them.”

Many speakers called for a general strike of all labor to confront the cutbacks, layoffs, and loss of collective bargaining rights workers are faced with. Quite a number criticized high ranking labor officials for holding the labor movement back from striking and other militant actions. Xan San Joi, of Code Pink, called for strike action to begin on May 1, 2011.

Read More | Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | Event Announcement

Previous Related Indybay Feature: ILWU Sued After Solidarity Work Stoppage Shut Ports on April 4th

The San Francisco Labor Council has called for the full support of ILWU Local 10 after it was sued by the PMA (Pacific Maritime Association) for the participation of its members in a "We Are One" solidarity action with Wisconsin workers which shut down the ports in Oakland and San Francisco on April 4, 2011. A resolution was passed unanimously at the San Francisco Labor Council on April 11th and the first emergency defense meeting to organize for action and solidarity will take place on Thursday, April 14th at 7pm. Individuals and other unions are encouraged to come and show support.

On April 12th, approximately 18 ILWU members from locals 10, 6, 54, and SEIU 1021 held a sit-in at the offices of the PMA in Oakland in response to the lawsuit and to protest the lockout of their members in Concord. The PMA refused to meet with the delegation. After several hours demonstrators decided to leave for a rally at the entrance of the building. They were joined by other members who had left the docks to support them.

4/14/11 Emergency Defense Meeting Announcement

PMA Office Sit-In: Photos, Video, Report | Jack Heyman speaks about ILWU work stoppage, 4/4/11

Previous Related Indybay Feature: We are One Rallies in Solidarity with Wisconsin on April 4th

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life.

On Monday, April 4th, 2011, local coalitions participated in nationwide actions to support Wisconsin workers, public services and the middle class. Organizers of the rally at the Santa Cruz County Government Center stated, "Dr. King was killed in Memphis, TN, where he had stood with sanitation workers who were struggling for the right to bargain collectively. The actions by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to eliminate collective bargaining – and the gradual eroding of the American middle class - only undermine that struggle."

Sacramento: Photos
Fresno: Photos
Santa Cruz: Photos
Oakland: Video 1 | 2 | Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Report
Berkeley: Photos
San Francisco: Video | Photos 1 | 2
Redwood City: Photos
Crockett/Vallejo: Audio | Photo

See Related: Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10, on KPFA Morning Mix, April 5

Publish YOUR April 4th Reports, Photos, Video & Audio to Indybay's Labor & Workers Newswire

Event Announcements: Santa Cruz, Salinas and Hollister | Watsonville | San Jose | Oakland | UC Berkeley | Martinez-Vallejo | Redwood City | San Francisco General Hospital | San Francisco Downtown | Marin-Larkspur-SF | Novato

Previous Related Indybay Feature: Californians Demonstrate in Solidarity with Wisconsin Workers