Thousands of Philly area union members rally with Bernie Sanders on May Day

Thousands of Philadelphia workers and union members gathered outside of City Hall on Thursday with US Sen. Bernie Sanders to celebrate May Day, an unofficial holiday in the labor movement, and protest President Donald Trump’s attacks on workers throughout the beginning of his second term. 

Over 5,000 Philadelphia area workers and community members took to the streets on Thursday to protest President Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks against workers and unions as part of a national day of action that coincided with May Day. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was among the headliners of the rally, and called out Trump and his billionaire supporters for turning the US into a country that only cares for the very rich. 

“ May Day was established way back in 1886, and workers then stood up to their very powerful bosses and said ‘you know what? We don’t want to be slaves. We don’t wanna work 60, 70 hours a week. We want an eight-hour day,’” Sanders said to the crowd outside Philadelphia City Hall. 

Sanders, who kicked off a three-day trip through Pennsylvania where he will be rallying Democrats in Harrisburg on Friday and Bethlehem on Saturday as part of his Fighting Oligarchy Tour, went on to explain how Trump is bringing oligarchy to the US.

“Donald Trump has made it very clear what we are talking about when we talk about oligarchy,” Sanders said. “ Oligarchy is a president who, when he gets inaugurated, he doesn’t hide it. Right behind him are the three wealthiest people in America —  Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg. And right behind them are 13 other billionaires who he has appointed to head major government agencies.”

May Day is an international holiday celebrating unions and workers’ rights that originated in the US in 1886, but is not officially recognized as a national holiday. 

Thursday’s rally, dubbed “For the Workers, Not the Billionaires,” was part of a national day of action protesting Trump’s attacks on working Americans throughout his first 100 days in office, and was organized by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO and a coalition of unions, immigrant rights groups, and progressive organizations. 

“This year the impetus is so strong and so necessary for us to have mass actions like this to be able to stand up for working people, to stand up for immigrants, stand up for our rights,” Daniel Bauder, President of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO said in an interview.  “It’s more important than ever before to have these kinds of mass gatherings and movements where we are able to with one voice stand up and be heard.” 

After the end of the rally, 75 labor leaders, elected officials, and union members were arrested on the Vine Street Expressway for blocking traffic and raising awareness of the Trump administration’s attacks on workers rights. 

It was Philadelphia labor’s first act of civil disobedience in Trump’s second term and leaders are confident that it won’t be their last. 

State Rep. Rick Krajewski (D-Philadelphia) was one of those who got arrested on Thursday and explained why he took part in the action. 

 ”We’re getting arrested because it’s time for people to understand we got to put workers over billionaires. We have billionaires who are enacting a fascist agenda on the federal level, and we got to let them know we’re not gonna stand for it and that workers are gonna be at the front of this movement to fight back for our country,” Krajewski said in an interview.