“Without Our Labor This Country Will Rot”

Bay Area Current took to the streets to join working class people celebrating international workers' day on May 1st. The crowd was large and was populated by members of political organizations and working class people from across the Bay. Here's what they said.

Boxinette K.
Home care worker, SEIU member

What would you change about the Bay Area? The atmosphere is beautiful, so you know, I wouldn’t change a thing because that’s what kept me here for over 34 years, it’s the spirit. It’s the love. It’s the union. When we stand to fight and we come together, that’s something I love about San Francisco, the Bay Area. No matter what they throw our way, two pandemics—both AIDS and COVID-19—we’ve always stood together. I’m still standing here after 37 years fighting HIV and all of that. So I know what we can do in this one body. Love and joy and peace, and keep up the struggle because when we fight, we win.

Beth O.
Stagehand, IATSE Local 16 union member

What’s keeping you up at night? Yeah… everything. I’m about two years from retiring, and it’s already hard enough staying in the area, and I’m really trying to. I’m a renter and I’m hoping to be able to stay in the Bay Area. I’ve lived here half my life, over 30 years. I worry about my pension and my social security very much. We need congress people who are actually willing to do the people’s business, OK? I blame the Republican congress more than I blame Trump. He’s just a tool. He’s a puppet. I grew up in New York in the seventies. I know exactly who he is, and he’s just being used by the people that are born rich to get richer.

Alfredo P. (left)
Worker at Palace Hotel in San Francisco, UNITE HERE Local 2 union member

What brought you out to May Day? We’re going to speak against Trump and his politics in our government. They are going down and as labor we need to make it happen. Without labor—our labor—this country will rot.

Hannah K.
Semi-Retired teacher and circus artist

What would make San Francisco better? Less cell phones on the streets.

Janet W.
Housekeeper, UNITE HERE Local 2 union member

What brought you out today, and if you were on strike tomorrow, what would the demand be? I’m here for justice! I strike for benefits, a raise, health insurance, and pension.

Nobel B.
Software engineer, member of Alphabet Workers Union

Why did you turn out for the May Day march? It’s a union ask—attending May Day—and anytime the union asks me anything, I do it. It’s not going to end at Alphabet (Workers Union) just so we can get higher wages, or a free watch, or whatever the fuck. We want solidarity. At the end of the day, it’s not just us. It’s going to be Amazon next. Twitter’s not going to be a right-wing propaganda arm. We want worker solidarity with everyone so that everyone gets what they deserve.

Arlette
Social worker, SEIU union member

What’s been keeping you up at night? The genocide in Palestine. Our tax dollars are funding the genocide. We pay for the bombs that kill innocent people in Palestine. The people in the West Bank are suffering too. Obviously we as Americans have our own problems, but I think a lot of Americans are failing to realize that by ignoring Palestine, they made their situation worse, and that’s why people who are speaking out about Palestine are getting arrested. You know, people who should have the right to free speech are getting retribution because they speak on Palestine. So I think if people actually cared about things that happened in the world and stood up for that we wouldn’t be in the place we are today in America.

Olive L.
Student and makeup artist

Tomorrow you’re on strike. What’s your demand? At a previous job, I wish we wouldn’t get randomly assigned overtime. Sometimes I’ve had to do almost 12-hour shifts.

Tina Martin
Former City College teacher for 32 years, AFT 2121 union member

What’s your big worry? The new administration should not be defunding education or doing away with the education department and getting people who aren’t particularly friendly towards public schools. I’m really worried about privatization because I think in a democracy we really need good public institutions, and I don’t think that’s what we get when things are privatized. I saw this morning that in San Francisco 30% of kids go to private schools—that’s huge and that’s terrible. I mean, of course, they don’t feel like investing in public schools because their kids are getting this privileged education. Some of the public schools are really, really good, and others are folding because they don’t have the right support.

Forest B.
7th grade history teacher, Berkeley Federation of Teachers union member

What brought you out today? I’m a school teacher, and I’m trying to connect with other school teachers and retired school teachers who will be part of a movement to divest the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) from… well… our pension system is supporting weapons manufacturers and surveillance companies and other human rights abusers and oil companies and all that. But we’re mainly focused on ending the genocide, so we want our retirement money out of weapons manufacturers.

Juan Veralaluv
Unemployed, member of Tenant And Neighborhood Councils

Why did you come through on May Day today? Part of it is simply cultural, that as working people we have no very few holidays to celebrate people, to really value and cover for what we do to keep this world running. And that's not just sort of a big level, but it's also with these everyday people that I mean, that we're here with, that we are part of something larger than us. We're part of a community, not just statewide, not just nationwide, but it's global. And this is an opportunity to show up and say, number one, that we are working people who want a better world.

Mary M.
Retired San Francisco city employee

What would make the Bay better? I’m fourth generation San Francisco. My family were all sailors and port workers. We’ve become a city with one of the greatest wealth disparities in the country. I would require very open funding for politicians, that they have to tell us, and limit political contributions to say no, you don’t get to have endless supplies of money. I would also fix flaws in our taxation system. We can’t keep giving tax breaks to corporations.

Xavier Hodges
Tech worker

What’s on your mind? Trump is doing whatever he wants. He’s just throwing shit on the wall and seeing what sticks. I am worried about not just the economy, but just a bunch of random stuff that doesn’t matter. People think it’s OK to do things that they didn’t usually think was OK. It’s worrying.