Hundreds gathered outside the post office in downtown Springfield on Thursday, holding signs with slogans like “No Kings, No Fascists” and “Capitalism grooms us to accept unequal rights.” Some were wearing keffiyehs in solidarity with Palestine, others were decked out in bright, monochromic t-shirts announcing what union they belonged to.
“Hey hey, ho ho, fascism has got to go!” the crowd chanted as they moved down the sidewalk toward City Hall. “Workers united will never be divided!”
Thursday was May 1 — International Workers’ Day. It was a day of action for many in the labor movement, from teachers who staged “walk-ins” at their schools in the morning to nurses picketing in front of Baystate Medical Center in the afternoon.
For some, like the Holyoke Teachers Association, the struggles on their minds were more immediate. The union had just heard earlier in the week that the state was retaining significant control over their district after more than a decade of “receivership” — a process that stripped the teachers’ union of collective bargaining protections. That’s despite previous suggestions that the state was going to give back local control to Holyoke.
“Limiting our collective bargaining agreement and shifting unilateral authority to a superintendent from a Receiver is merely a ruse to say that receivership is ending,” the union said in a statement. “Teachers will leave. Our community will still be denied democratic, local control of its schools. Students will not get what they need because educators’ professional autonomy and voice remains stifled. We know that good contracts reached through genuine collective bargaining produce the best learning environments for our students.”
For others, the day was about the actions that the Trump administration has taken in his first 100 days in office, together with his Republican and billionaire allies. In Northampton, peace activists organized around an issue that pre-dated Trump’s election. Organizers said said two hundred people gathered to demand that the city institute a weapons manufacturing ban— an effort to shut down L3Harris KEO, the military contractor.
It all culminated in the rally in Springfield that evening, supporting everything from workers’ and immigrants’ rights to housing and climate justice. Several hundred people peacefully marched down Main Street demanding justice for the wide range of causes they supported.
(Photos by Shelby Lee)
These are some of their voices.
Joe Mirkin, electrician, IBEW member
“We’re celebrating the labor movement in this country and around the world. We’re celebrating it in western Mass. We’ve got plenty of unions that have a lot of struggles: the contract fights, fights against defunding, school closures, hospital closures, VA campus closures, things like that. We’re out here to celebrate all the struggles that the workers have been waging in this country, around the world for over a century. Big tent workers’ rights — that’s why I’m out here. I’m in the IBEW. I’m a proud union member. And I’m happy to see some of the other brothers and sisters from the building trades out here with me today, as well as folks, union members, and not, from various other industries, folks from the anti-foreclosure movement that are here, and folks from the free-Palestine movement that are here as well. There’s a lot of different movements. That’s what I love about May Day is how it’s not just a single issue. We’re not here for one single issue. I’m not, anyway.”
Cynthia Davis, case manager at the state Department of Mental Health, SEIU Local 509 member
“I’m here to unite and show solidarity with my brothers and sisters of other unions, our allies, and help them in the fight that they have within their locals. And today, I will be representing … local 509 regarding the governor’s FY 2026 budget cuts to 340 case managers. So I will be talking about an update regarding amendment 1550 that was sponsored by [state Rep.] Marjorie Decker. And we are here to promote that amendment, to include language to not lay off the Department of Mental Health case managers because of the egregious setback it would have to our clients.”
“We haven’t had a May Day in decades, right? It’s been decades. So to have a May Day today, on this day, and to see so much solidarity out here in Springfield, especially in western Mass, is amazing. It really brings a spark back to what brotherhood and sisterhood is and what allies means when we come together. And when we fight, we win.”
Lezlie Braxton Campbell, deputy director of Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts
“We put together this march and rally because right now it’s not just worker rights that are under attack, but we have democracy under siege, and we are out here today to show up and fight back … I hope that this has people just continue to want to fight, to protect immigrants, to want to fight to protect workers’ rights, and to want to fight to pass the things that we’re working on, like criminal justice reform, the ‘Clean Slate’ bill, because those things create a healthier democracy. And obviously, we’re fighting fascism.”
Linell Peralta, community organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation
“I’m a member of the working class. I live the struggle every day. And I think it’s so important that we literally run the world and we help it function. And so it only makes sense that we should, at the very least, get the benefits of the labor that we’re selling and all the work that we’re doing. And the fact that people are more and more having a difficult time meeting their needs — even despite working two, three jobs like — that’s absurd and it’s not right . We know it’s not right, which is why we’re out here. And I think this year’s May Day really stands out. I mean, the last 100 days especially really stand out to a lot of people. I think we see our government and our leaders really trying to push the buttons and seeing how far they can test us. And we’re standing here in solidarity with Palestine, with workers, with immigrants across the world. And we have to really lead with unity and solidarity, because without each other, we won’t be able to either protect our rights or win more rights now.”
Nick Cream, president of the Holyoke Teachers Association
“I just think that we need to be a part of the broader movements that are happening all around us. We’re trying to work with some of the other unions to create a kind of regional bargaining council, because we’re experiencing a lot of the same things that folks in Springfield are experiencing and in other cities all around here.”
Ethan White, a Starbucks barista and Starbucks Workers United organizer
“They’re trying to implement this new, really racist, homophobic, and transphobic dress code now that they are pushing through even the union stores. We are trying to get everybody to sign a thing of noncompliance so that we can push against this, because it is not fair to people who don’t make a living wage to ask them to get new clothes to work, to be able to afford the clothes that they can’t afford … We are still just like building support, and we love to hear from our community. We love when people come in and say, ‘We love what you’re doing.’”
Mikey Perez, a Starbucks worker
“We are showing support for Starbucks Workers United and the rest of the working class in Springfield. And we’re showing our voice, and demanding that we all get paid a livable wage because that’s what we all deserve. It’s a city that desperately needs it. It’s a city that I would say has been dominated by years of austerity. I mean, how long has [Springfield Mayor] Domenic Sarno been in power Uncontested?”
Nadia Milleron, a former independent candidate for U.S. Congress in the 1st Congressional District
“I am supporting the effort to push back against Trump’s shorting us in so many ways. Environmental, you know, getting rid of the funding to control pollution in our asthma capital of the U.S. and getting rid of the [National Labor Relations Board] members. And there’s so much to specifically push back against.”
“We have to practice with Trump pushing back on specific problems that he’s creating … because we’ll have to keep doing that if the Democrats get in power. No one is going to do anything you want them to do without pressure. Oligarchs run both parties, and they’re going to take advantage of any control that Trump gets. They’ll just push further for repression, getting rid of free speech.”
Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association
“We’re out here on May Day, International Workers Day, to fight back against the Trump-Musk billionaire agenda, which is to take away workers rights, to threaten, kidnap, deport immigrants, to undermine public education and higher education … We’re also fighting forward for the world we want to live in. And I think that’s where this energy is. People are really angry, pissed off at what this administration is doing, but that’s allowing them to say, ‘Well, what is the world we want to live in?’”
“The core of democracy, the foundation of democracy, is public education, which is exactly why the Trump administration is going after public pre-K-12 schools and public higher education. Because in a society that you want to control as an authoritarian, you don’t want people to learn to think for themselves. You want them to know propaganda and little else. You don’t want people to learn as they do at universities, how to protest, how to exercise free speech. And you don’t want scholars to research new ideas and develop new ways of thinking. So that’s why we’re in the crosshairs, and that’s why we are so important right now to defend against the Trump billionaire agenda.”
Mercedes Ryan, a community organizer with Springfield No One Leaves
“It’s International Workers Day, so we’re honoring all the workers of the world … and drawing attention to the current fascism that’s taking over our country.”
“Education is the backbone of strong, vibrant communities. Our teachers, educators, and support staff are the ones holding it up every day. This May Day, we march to demand that those who shape our future have what they need to thrive: fair pay, safe classrooms and support for their well-being both on the job and at home. When we stand up for our educators, we stand up for every child, every family. In the future, we all share.”
Dusty Christensen is The Shoestring's investigations editor. Based in western Massachusetts, his award-winning investigative reporting has appeared in newspapers and on radio stations across the region. He has reported for outlets including The Nation magazine, NPR, Haaretz, New England Public Media, The Boston Globe, The Appeal, In These Times, and PBS. He teaches journalism to future muckrakers at both the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Smith College. Send story tips to: dchristensen@theshoestring.org.
Tommy Lee is a writer, investigative journalist, and audio video producer for community television based in Western Massachusetts.
