Hundreds of Labor Day rallies were held across the U.S. on Monday, with demonstrators protesting the Trump administration’s policies and the influence of billionaires. More than 1,000 demonstrations were expected, with participants demanding stronger worker protections, fully funded schools, universal healthcare and housing, an end to corporate corruption, an end to attacks on marginalized communities, and a halt to what they described as federal overreach.
In New York, protesters gathered outside Trump Tower, calling for the president to step down and accusing him of fascism. As a brass band played, workers carried signs demanding a living wage and universal healthcare.
Meanwhile in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson denounced the Trump administration’s threats to deploy the federal troops to the city as part of an immigration crackdown. “No federal troops in the city of Chicago,” said Johnson on Monday to a gathered crowd at the “Workers over billionaires” demonstration in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. “We’re going to defend our democracy… we’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago,” he added. Johnson later led the crowd, with chants of “no troops in Chicago,” and “invest in Chicago,” according to the New York Times.
READ: Supreme Court blocking Trump tariffs could ‘end’ US economy: Peter Navarro (
Demonstrations took place in numerous cities including New York, Houston, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. Smaller cities such as Cleveland, Ohio and Greensboro, North Carolina also held rallies of their own.
“Together we will demand a country that puts workers over billionaires,” said the May Day Strong group, a coalition to labor unions, in a statement about the event. The May Day Strong, a coalition to labor unions, organized Monday’s efforts along with AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. federation of unions, One Fair Wage — a nonprofit advocating for fair wages for restaurant workers — and other labor groups.
“This is about organic, grassroots organizing, and we intentionally wanted it to be outside of Washington DC, because that’s where the impacts are being felt,” said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO. Meanwhile, One Fair Wage’s Giovanni Urbe told Al Jazeera, “Service workers in New York City are the backbone of this city.”
READ: Trump slams ‘one-sided’ US-India ties, cites trade imbalance (
“The National Restaurant Association is our number one opponent that’s fighting to keep subminimum wage intact so they don’t have to pay their workers their full minimum wage to survive. So, we’re just asking for a livable wage,” he added.
Matt Duss, executive vice-president at the Center for International Policy and a former adviser to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, stated that while protestors might be attending rallies for a variety of reasons, their financial concerns are likely to overlap. “I think there are a set of shared concerns: the cost of living, the cost of housing, the cost of basic goods, groceries, the cost of education, the overall sense that people in the United States have lost control of their economic and political lives and their futures,” he said.
As thousands participated in these rallies, Trump posted his own Labor Day message on the Truth Social platform. “Celebrating 250 years of THE AMERICAN WORKER. Happy Labor Day,” he captioned the picture he posted of himself shaking hands with workers.