PITTSBURGH, PA. - On Saturday, No Kings protests are expected to draw participants from hundreds of cities across the United States and overseas. After the protest, Indivisible, the group that led the “No Kings” protest, is pivoting to building support for the May Day Strong walkouts and actions.
The May Day Strong coalition is calling for “No Work, No School, No Shopping” on May 1st.
“Coming off the heels of the massive energy from the No Kings mobilizations, people are ready to take action and keep fighting for a democracy of, by, and for the people,” says Indivisible Co-Founder Leah Greenberg, whose organization started the No Kings protest. “On May 1, Indivisibles will be joining people across the country with a clear message: we demand a government that invests in our communities, not one that enriches billionaires, fuels endless war, or deploys masked agents to intimidate our neighbors.”
While many have long dismissed a May Day general strike as a pipe dream, it seems more likely in the wake of the Minnesota General Strike and the energy of the “No Kings Movement”.
On January 23rd, Minneapolis went out on a general strike with support from major labor federations across the state. Over 100,000 marched in -30 temperatures as major school districts, and at least 700 businesses closed across Minnesota. More than 300 solidarity actions were held nationwide, according to Payday Report’s strike tracker.
At least 23% of Minnesota voters said either they or a loved one participated in the strike in some way, according to a survey of 1,900 registered Minnesota voters conducted by Blue Rose Research for the May Day Strong coalition, a group of labor and community organizations advocating for a mass nationwide walkout on May 1st.
Minnesota labor leaders have been touring the country, speaking to groups about lessons learned from the Minnesota General Strike.
“We’re inspired by the Minnesota actions,” says Cliff Smith, Business Manager of Roofers Local 36 in LA. “Our county Labor Federation just held their annual workers Congress last weekend and had the Minneapolis AFL-CIO council president come and address our delegation. So, you know, we’re trying to build on what exists already,”
In addition to major groups like Indivisible, several large unions, including the AFT, AAUP, NEA, Starbucks Workers United and, the UE are mobilizing. Dozens of local union groups, including the North Carolina AFL-CIO, the Milwaukee Labor Council, and UFCW 3000, have signed on to support the May Day actions.
Payday Report has begun tracking local unions that back the May Day Strong actions and has developed a partial list of local unions backing the May Day Strong call for “No Work, No Schools, No Shopping”. (See the map here)
Earlier this month, the 31,000-member Chicago Teachers Union signed on to support the May Day General Strike.
“Teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks when the President sends federal agents to occupy our cities and the Governor chooses to continue giving tax breaks to billionaires instead of giving our students the school day they deserve,” says Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter.
While some unions may be hesitant to sign on to the call for a general strike for legal reasons, organizers expect support for the May Day General Strike to grow over the next month.
“These calls typically come from the streets and from the rank and file,” says Cliff Smith. “Then, they tend to get officially taken over by higher-level organizations once they get to a certain level of inertia. But circumstances are changing quickly around us.”
Smith says that the May Day strike is crucial to showing Trump the power of workers. He says that a demonstration of power on May Day could show the GOP that there will be serious consequences if Trump and his GOP allies try to steal the congressional elections in November.
“We should not depend on the November midterm elections to provide us with any solutions to this problem,” says Smith. “We should have contingency plans in the event that there are not free and fair elections.”
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