Day of defiance—Strikes and protests erupt across the US

Protesters are calling for “No Work, No School, No Shopping” in a nationwide day of action against Trump policies

Across the United States, Friday 1 May was a day of rebellion and resistance to Ice, war and billionaires. 

In Manhattan, New York, supporters of the youth-led Sunrise Movement linked arms outside the stock exchange, blockading every entrance to the building. 

High school students from Rochester, New York walked out of classes and marched through the streets chanting, “No justice, no peace. Ice off our streets”.

In Minneapolis, some groups of workers struck for the day. Cleaning and hospitality workers at the Hotel Ivy walked out and formed picket lines to demand a $3 per hour pay rise. 

“I think they can afford a raise like this”, said hotel worker David McAnn. “For 24 hours I’d like them to know how important we are to the operations of the hotel.”

Trump has suggested he wants to rebrand Ice as Nice—“National Immigration and Customs Enforcement”. But Minnesotans are still furious as federal agents continue to terrorise migrants and black people in the city. 

Minneapolis protester Carmen said the protests are about Ice. “It’s about everything we went through this winter, and we continue to go through,” she said. 

In Chicago, members of the Chicago Teachers Union walked out of work for the afternoon to join marches alongside their students. 

Ironworkers union member Sam joined the march in the city. He slammed Trump’s wars in the Middle East. “No ironworker I know is for the war on Iran”, he said. “Those people in power, or so they think it’s power, it’s privilege. 

“We the people have the power as far as I’m concerned. They got the privilege and they can stick that privilege up their ass.”

UAW union president Shawn Fain told the Chicago crowds, “The working class in America and the world has been left behind by the richest handful of people and by corporate greed. Our only means of winning the war on the working class is our unity, is our solidarity.”

Striking nurses from National Nurses United joined many of the actions. In Philadelphia, nurse Maureen May said, “We are putting people before profits, patients over profits and workers over billionaires.”

In Maine, nurses demanded that Maine Health ends its contract with Palantir. They said that Palantir, used by Ice to track and deport people, is designed to destroy lives and has no place in hospitals. 

According to the May Day Strong website, some 3,500 actions took place on the day. They ranged from small local rallies and marches to massive shows of strength. The action follows the historic day of “no work, no school and no shopping” in Minnesota on 23 January. 

The day also marked 20 years since the one-day strike led by migrant workers in 2006. The “day without immigrants” was crucial to preventing the Senate passing a draconian anti-migrant bill.

Nathaniel in Tucson, Arizona told Socialist Worker, “Around 900 people showed up here following a call from the May Day Strong movement and different socialist groups. 

“Students walked out of their schools and there were families and young children. 

“Not all socialists call it a strike. They call it a shutdown. But there were people who were supposed to be at work today. They refused to go to work and joined a march instead.

“There were slogans of ‘workers over billionaires’ and ‘education before war’”, Nathaniel said. “A lot of teachers are underpaid and they see funds going to the military instead.”

Speakers in Tucson and elsewhere referred to the origins of May Day with the Haymarket massacre in 1886. Police broke up a workers’ rally in Chicago and falsely accused workers of throwing a bomb. 

Nathaniel said, “It was a police crackdown on migrant workers—the Ice occupation is not the first time the US state has used authoritarian measures against the population.”

Events on 1 May this year were supported by hundreds of national and local organisations from unions and grassroots campaigns to nationwide pro-democracy organisations like Indivisible, 50501 and others. Some of these are also involved in the series of huge No Kings marches. 

The strategy of groups like Indivisible is to push elected leaders to be more progressive. Some want to steer the movement towards backing the Democrats in November’s mid-term elections. 

But people putting their faith in the Democrats is a disastrous strategy. The Democrats have no answers to the poverty and insecurity that many working class people face. In office, Democrat politicians have furthered and legitimised racist scapegoating of migrants and have backed Israel’s genocide in Palestine. 

Some unions also stopped short of calling strikes on 1 May, blaming the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act for making this difficult. Shawn Fain has proposed trying to get around this by calling on organised workers to align the expiration dates of their contracts and strike together in 2028. 

But 2028 will seem like a very long way off as Trump’s war drives up inflation and his federal forces continue to snatch people off the streets. Mass mobilisations like the one that drove back Ice in Minnesota this year can point to an alternative and give workers a glimpse of their power.