Chicago workers take to the streets on May Day

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CHICAGO—Nearly 10,000 workers, im­ migration rights activists, and support­ ers took to the streets on May Day to demand legalization of undocumented workers; an end to terrorizing immi­ grant communities with raids on homes and workplaces; and an end to criminal­ ization, mass incarceration, and depor­ tations. (See a full list of demands at the link below.)

The primarily Hispanic crowd staged a “Rally for Immigration Justice” in Union Park on the city’s West side and then marched east to Chicago’s Daley Plaza and heard speakers including Tefere Gebre, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO; Karen Lewis, Chicago Teachers Union president; and others.

Chicago May Day, http://chimayday. com/#, was sponsored by over 120 Chi­ cago organizations. Among the more prominent were an array of immigration rights groups including Illinois Coali­ tion for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Mijente, and Arise Chicago. Black rights groups including NAACP Chicago South­ side, Black Youth Project 100, and Black Lives Matter were also prominent build­ ers of the protests.

The May Day call was endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor, and drew the active support and participation of dozens of labor organizations and trade unions including: Fight for $15, Interna­ tional Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Service Employee International Union (SEIU), Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), United Electrical Workers-Western Region (UE), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Na­ tional Nurses United (NNU), and Ameri­ can Federation of State County and Mu­ nicipal Employees (AFSCME).

Several SEIU union locals and the CTU played prominent roles in providing lo­ gistics and marshalling for the event. Hundreds came from surrounding areas, especially DuPage County, where Immi­ grant Solidarity DuPage organized six busloads of immigrant workers to par­ ticipate in Chicago’s day of activities.

Despite intermittent rain showers, the three-mile march down Washington St. was militant and spirited. Singing, chanting, and calls for solidarity boomed from loudspeakers as bystanders along the march route joined in. Hundreds of demonstrators carried colorful flags and signs, some with handmade slogans. “Bridges not Walls” and “We can’t sur­ vive on $8.25!” were among the popular chants.

One of the marchers was eager to speak with reporters. Her parents were without papers when they brought her to the U.S. as a young girl: “I’m a DREAMER myself! And I’m going to college. Today, May 1st, is college decision day, and [we are here] just fighting to keep the programs like DACA alive.”

Earlier in the day protesters rallied in the Pilsen neighborhood’s Tenochtitlán Plaza. One of the city’s historic, predomi­ nantly Hispanic communities, Pilsen residents have been frequent targets of ICE raids and harassment. One partici­ pant, Rebecca Vosler, a 25-year old Pilsen teacher, told reporters: “How can Chicago claim that they’re a sanctuary city when immigrants aren’t being protected; and then on top of that, how are you protect­ ing workers when the rent is rising, when the wages are low?”

A 42-year-old Pilsen restaurant worker, Israel Gascón, said he was protesting on May Day to take a stand for the work­ ing class, pointing out: “There is a war against the workers [and] against immi­ grants. … I see my community terrorized by ICE, by this criminalization of particu­ larly the Mexican community.”

Earlier in the day, other groups con­ gregated outside the Cook County Juve­ nile Detention Center to protest police violence, harassment and the wave of arrests of Black and Latino youth. After some speeches, the group marched to join the main “Rally for Immigration Jus­ tice” at Union Park.

At Mather High School in Chicago’s West Ridge neighborhood, dozens of teachers gathered to raise their demand for increased public school funding and demonstrate solidarity with immigration rights.

“It’s a day, historically, that the working class in the U.S., which is an immigrant working class, has fought for the eight-hour day, originally, but now for services that will support the future in the neigh­ borhoods, in the schools,” said Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Vice President Jes­ se Sharkey. “We’ve seen our schools un­ der a real threat and attack, and we hope that people come out and show solidarity and fight for a future we can believe in.”

In a video May Day Message to CTU members, Sharkey urged support for other victims of the state’s manufactured “budget crisis.” He called for solidarity with students and staff of public univer­ sities, especially predominately Black Chicago State University, which has been systematically dismantling by massive budget cuts over the last two years.

Sharkey pledged continued solidarity with state workers who are without a contract and under a union-busting as­ sault from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. He also promoted the struggle of over 10,000 nursing-care workers fighting for (Left) Chicago Teachers Union members protest in June 2016.

a fair contract who are planning a strike later this month.

Previously, the CTU leadership consid­ ered a one-day strike on May Day to fight school budget cutbacks and solidarize with immigration rights, but ultimately decided against a strike. Many teachers, they said, were unwilling to give up ad­ ditional paid teaching days. Instead, the teachers were encouraged to use person­ al days to attend the May Day protests, and many CTU members did so.

While the Chicago May Day protests were an important expression of solidar­ ity, which brought together a wide array of forces, like others around the coun­ try, they were smaller than expected. This may indicate Trump’s xenophobia and virulent racism are having a chill­ ing effect on the immigrant community, heightening fear, and ushering increasing numbers of undocumented workers into the shadows.

Exposed now, more than ever, is the weak-kneed response of the Chicago labor movement, which is fused to the capitalist Democratic Party and the lo­ cal machine of Rahm Emanuel. The so-called “progressive” labor leaders in this city are a dime a dozen, reined in by their political bosses whose job is to protect the interests of local billionaires like Ken Griffin (the richest man in Illinois) and his friends, their big corporations, their tax-advantaged hedge funds, and their tax-free offshore accounts.

While they posture as defenders of the most oppressed workers, they have been totally unwilling to break ties with the Democrats either in the streets or in the political arena. Rather than token endorsements, resolutions, and flowerysounding speeches, what’s necessary is a truly massive and powerful display of unity in action.

Undocumented immigrants and other oppressed workers will be further em­ boldened to take action when a powerful, militant, and combative ally appears on the scene—one that brings the full power of a united Chicago union movement to bear. Chicago’s labor history books are full of examples of heroic labor battles that are both a source for study and a guide to action. n Tucson News Now