SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Thousands of San Franciscans marked International Workers’ Day on May 1 with demonstrations and economic boycotts aimed at challenging economic inequality and political power structures, as organizers framed the actions as part of a broader movement for systemic change.
May Day was birthed by the struggles of the working class, which organizers say have only grown more detrimental in recent years. Bolstered by corporate support, the authoritarian MAGA regime continues to rise in power, extending ICE’s reach, undermining the Voting Rights Act, and funding billionaires and international wars with taxpayer money.
Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council Kim Tavaglione stated, “Across every industry and community, we are standing together against corporate greed, privatization, anti-immigrant attacks, and the dismantling of public services. And together, we are building a future where working people—not billionaires—hold the power.”
Workers, students, families and immigrants walked out, shut down businesses, ceased spending, and either stayed at home or took to the streets to protest. This year, San Francisco became a focal point for large-scale May Day actions because of its three major coordinated events. The first began at 11 a.m. at the International Terminal of the San Francisco International Airport, where direct action included civil disobedience and picketing.
Organizations formally involved included SEIU United Service Workers West, Bay Resistance, Jobs with Justice, Indivisible SF, Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, Stop AI, Tech Workers Coalition, Democratic Socialists of America San Francisco, Oil and Gas Action Network, San Mateo County Central Labor Council, San Francisco Labor Council, Fossil Free California and Sunrise Bay Area.
At the San Francisco International Airport, more than 200 workers, along with union and community members, called for United Airlines workers who had been contracted out to be fairly compensated and for an end to the airline industry’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rafael, a skycap baggage porter at SFO, was among the employees who picketed: “Last year, airlines like United made record profits while SFO workers made poverty wages. I’m proud to stand with my brothers and sisters on International Workers Day to fight for something better for us and our families.”
The ICE OUT OF SFO direct action condemned the presence of ICE agents in airports and argued that such installations were a preparatory move for upcoming elections by standardizing immigration enforcement. More than 20 elected officials, workers and union leaders were arrested for standing with the picketers in their demand for fair wages, including congressional candidate and supervisor Connie Chan, California insurance commissioner candidate and former supervisor Jane Kim, and San Francisco Board President Rafael Mandelman.
“We won’t stay silent as ICE attacks our communities, tearing parents from their kids, abducting workers from their jobs and terrorizing our neighborhoods,” said Alma Santana, director of immigrant rights at Mujeres Unidas y Activas. “This May Day we march as immigrant women, mothers and grandmothers, alongside our neighbors and hundreds of thousands of working people across this country to demand ICE out of our communities and full citizenship rights for all.”
The second major coordinated action, the “Shut It Down for May Day March: Workers’ Needs Over Billionaires’ Greed — No War, No Cuts, No Deportation,” took place at Civic Center Plaza at 2 p.m. Thousands rallied in the streets, passing the Federal Building, Target and Salesforce, protesting what organizers described as an assault on workers and immigrants.
“This May Day, we are drawing a line: we will not stand by as U.S. funding fuels Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, as ICE targets our families, and as schools and healthcare are gutted,” said Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center. “Whether through bombs abroad or attacks on our communities here at home, we are marching in solidarity against a Trump billionaire agenda that threatens the dignity, livelihoods, and wellbeing of working-class people everywhere.”
Organizations associated with the march included Jobs with Justice, Mission Action, California Domestic Workers Coalition, Tech Workers Coalition, Bay Resistance, San Francisco Labor Council, AFSCME 3299, Local 2 UNITE HERE, California Nurses Association, United Educators of San Francisco, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Nuevo Sol Day Labor and Domestic Worker Center, El/La Para TransLatinas, PODER San Francisco, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, Indivisible SF, Showing Up for Racial Justice SF, Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, Palestinian Youth Movement, Nodutdol, Bay Area Cuba Solidarity Network, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Democratic Socialists of America San Francisco.
The final action of May Day was the Workers Over Billionaires Rally. Embarcadero Plaza served as the site where collective action and the long history of worker-led resistance were commemorated. Campaign Director for Jobs with Justice San Francisco Maria Moreno said, “May Day is just the beginning. We must build a multiracial, working-class, noncooperation movement capable of confronting authoritarianism, ending ICE violence, and winning a future where power is in the hands of the people.”
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