Celebrate May 1st - International Workers' Day

May 1st is International Workers' Day! Join the Rank and File of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Longshore Division, Locals 10 and Local 34 in the San Francisco Bay Area as it joins its union brothers and sisters and workers around the world on this, the first and only international workers' holiday. Its origins recount the long and bloody battle for the 8 Hour work day. On May 1, 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions in the United States and Canada called for workers to strike till their demand was met. More than half a million workers in both countries took to the streets. It's epicenter was Chicago's Haymarket Square. In 1889, the Second International, a worldwide organization of workers and socialists declared May 1st as International Workers' Day.

Today, workers around the world, including the ILWU rank and file, will continue this tradition of fighting for workers' rights by staging an 8 hour work stoppage to close down all 29 ports on the West Coast. The march and rally will call attention to the plight of workers today, including its immigrant sector. The fight continues for better pay and more humane working conditions. Rally speakers will link the fight for workers' rights to the increasing terror, repression and murders we are witnessing today by local police, ICE and immigration officers and all levels of our country's militarized policing and prison systems.

Additional rally speakers at the Bobby Hutton (DeFremery) Park Rally will include ILWU, Local 10 rank and filer Derrick Muhammed, Alameda County District Attorney candidate Pamela Price, PICO Speaker for Injustice Pastor Ben McBride, CBTU/Coalition of Black Tradeworkers Carl Jones, ILWU retiree and former Black Panther Clarence Thomas. Join dockworkers and workers around the world for a day of international solidarity and resistance!