In the Bay Area, workers showed up big on May Day. We at Current covered the Bay from Oakland to San Jose and everywhere in between. We wanted to capture not just the diversity of actions, but give context to the organizing behind these efforts.
One thing that’s for sure is Bay Area workers demonstrated they know that May 1st – not Labor Day – is the real International Workers’ Day.
Oakland Airport Action: Workers Shut Down the International Terminal
May 1, 2026, 10 AM. Words and photos by Matt Takaichi.
A coalition including East Bay DSA, ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), Indivisible, and Palestinian Youth Movement packed ILWU Local 6’s Union hall at 9 AM to organize an action against using Oakland Airport to ship military cargo to Israel. Cars tagged with Palestinian solidarity messages and imagery caravaned to the "Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport", temporarily blocking traffic into the terminal. Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators lined the entrance to the airport terminal, passing flyers out to travelers about the airport’s involvement in military shipments to Israel, and blasting their message over megaphones. This action is part of ongoing organizing in the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo campaign, building on other Palestine solidarity victories in the Bay Area, such as divestment from Israel becoming policy in Alameda County.
SFO International Airport Action: Workers Demand ICE Out of SFO
May 1, 2026, 11AM. Words & photos by Patrick Perkins.
Late in March, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers were filmed arresting a Guatemalan national and her son in San Francisco International Airport on their way to Miami. A little over a month later, a large crowd attended the “ICE Out of SFO” May Day demonstration, marching through the International Terminal and picketing outside. The protest was organized by a wide coalition of groups, including Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Bay Resistance, Sunrise Bay Area, and DSA San Francisco. Workers and politicians spoke out against SFO’s exploitation of immigrant labor and backing of the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies. Local politicians were in attendance, including Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, State Senator Josh Becker, and Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan, all of whom were arrested at the protest. ICE wasn’t the only topic of protest — SEIU-USWW (a union of workers, like cleaners, service workers, and baggage handlers at SFO) members called out United Airlines’ unfair treatment of the workers.
The protest encapsulated frustrations San Franciscans are feeling in 2026, from workers feeling the squeeze from an empowered ruling class, to fear and disgust at violence towards immigrant communities, to the hope for a revolutionary change in the US. Nhân Nguyen, a graduate student at UCSF in attendance at the demonstration, put it this way: “Direct action is the only time that I feel like we show them that we have our own rights, and we have the power to take our rights.”
Fruitvale Plaza Action: Oakland Sin Fronteras March & Resource Fair
May 1, 2026, 2PM. Words by Juan Canham. Photos by Eric Ruud.
Oakland’s Fruitvale is home to many immigrant communities, so it is the natural home of the Oakland Sin Fronteras May Day March and Resource Fair. Thousands showed up in support of workers everywhere, and in particular in solidarity with those under attack from ICE. The plaza filled up at 2PM with a resource fair, where participants could link up with various community resources, like tenant organizations and healthcare services. Political organizations were also present, and discussed their takes on how to address today’s war on the working class.
Prior to the official rally, OUSD students spoke about why they had walked out of school for May Day. The rally then proceeded with speeches decrying US imperialism, the ruinous economic pressure forcing workers to take on multiple jobs, and the use of state violence in communities and workplaces across the US. Participants then marched off, doing a loop around the Fruitvale district before arriving back at the plaza for more resources, closing speeches, and performances from numerous groups including representatives of the Zapatistas & Nodutdol.
San Jose Action: Workers & Students & Lowriders March on San Jose City Hall
May 1, 2026, 2PM. Words and photos by Matt Takaichi.
In San Jose, over one thousand people, along with a cadre of lowriders, showed up at the Story and King intersection to take an over 3-mile march to San Jose City Hall. The march had a heavy presence of unions, socialist organizations, and left Southeast Asian groups. Notable, too, was the presence of students who walked out of seven San Jose high schools. In the past year, San Jose Unified School District threatened closure of nine elementary schools before eventually voting on closing five elementary schools. Attendees did not shy away from naming culprits pushing for austerity, as chants of ‘Fuck Matt Mahan’, San Jose’s Mayor and a tech-backed candidate for California Governor, broke out in the crowd.
San Francisco Action: Tech Workers Show Up For May Day
May 1, 2026, 2PM. Words by Shimmy. Photos by Jimmy Wu.
Tech workers turned out in force for May Day, building on last year's first-ever tech contingent with a bigger, louder bloc. Members of Tech Workers Coalition (TWC), Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), United Videogame Workers, and No Tech for Apartheid marched alongside SEIU, airline workers, and other unions to put workers over billionaires.
It's our work that generates their billions.
The day started at SFO, where thousands rallied with airport workers demanding better wages and an end to ICE's presence at the international terminal. Tech workers brought Tech Workers Must Organize and Googlers for Job Security banners, and debuted a new chant: “no justice / no code!” The contingent regrouped at SF City Hall and marched down the Embarcadero, chanting "What do we want? Job security!" — a sign of how mass layoffs are reshaping tech worker consciousness.
AWU's Emma Jackson, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, put it plainly: "It's our work that generates their billions." TWC member Nikita Shalimov also spoke with KXSF radio about TWC's May Day organizing.
Oakland Party: Seeing Red –– Discussion on Muskism and After Party at Tamarack
May 1, 2026, 7PM. Words by Hamsa Elmi. Photos by Jimmy Wu.
On May Day around 100 people showed up at downtown Oakland for a trivia-style book talk on the new book, Muskism. The event was hosted by Seeing Red — a “communist salon.” The event started off with a speech on the origins of May Day, and an audience led singing of The Internationale. The trivia was engaging despite the fact the questions required knowing too much about Elon Musk.
Following the event, Seeing Red hosted a May Day after party that featured drinks, piñatas, and great vibes. An effigy of our local class enemies was burned under red flags.
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