DETROIT—Roughly 1,000 “Workers over Billionaires” marches and protests were held across the country on Labor Day to oppose the billionaire-backed Trump administration’s attacks on workers, their unions, and their families. The actions across the country included large demonstrations in Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and workers actually walking off the job and striking in Houston and Grand Blanc, Michigan.
Labor leaders around the country spoke out against the capitalist class and their bought-and-paid-for political cronies in Washington, D.C. for “rigging the government and economy” against workers—immigrant and non-immigrant, organized and unorganized—the dismantling of trade union rights, collective bargaining agreements, job safety programs, as well as cuts to renewable energy jobs, Medicaid and critical institutions for workers such as the National Labor Relations Board.
“This is a government that is by, and for, the CEOs and billionaires,” declared AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler at a massive Labor Day march in Los Angeles.
At Detroit’s Labor Day march and rally, several thousand trade unionists and their allies marched down Michigan Avenue to the historic Michigan Central Station in Corktown. The Michigan Building Trades Council, along with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Service Employees (SEIU) made up the largest contingent. They were flanked by the Teamsters, Nurses, Letter Carriers, Teachers, Firefighters, Government Employees, Postal Workers, and a hundreds-strong “Labor for Palestine” contingent.
Shawn Fain, president of the UAW, spoke out fiercely against rampant corporate greed, so-called “free-trade deals,” and the billionaire corruption of our political system.
“Over the last 40 years, thanks to shitty trade deals and everything else that’s happened, corporations have wreaked havoc on our communities and then turn around and say it’s our fault…They told us workers made too much and our pensions weren’t realistic,” drawing thunderous boos from the attendees directed at Big Business.
“They said all of this bullshit while they lined their pockets with the profits that our work generates! We live in the time of the greatest wealth disparity in the history of the world,” he said.
“The top 0.1% of the richest people in this world have more than 95% of the world’s wealth…that is a crisis.”
But Fain also spoke on the fighting spirit and unity of the working class, saying that solidarity is not just a slogan, but the answer.
“The power of workers is what we celebrate today. The solidarity that brings corporations to their knees. The power of workers to fight for what we deserve despite the insurmountable odds,” he said. “Union family—that spirit runs through our veins here in Michigan, where the UAW was founded 90 years ago this last week.”
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley flew in from Washington, DC to speak at the demonstration in Detroit. He repudiated the Trump administration’s trashing and axing of federal workers’ collective bargaining agreements and union rights through the stroke of a pen.
Largest union-busting operation
He called it the “largest union-busting operation” in the country’s history. On Labor Day, a new Trump executive order axed the bargaining rights of several more government agencies. According to the Center for American Progress, Trump’s executive orders have now stripped 82% of federal workers of their bargaining rights.
“This is a coordinated campaign to silence our voices,” he said. “But our power comes from our solidarity. Workers…this is your day! And the AFGE is not going anywhere!” he exclaimed to applause.
Across the state in Grand Blanc, Michigan, 750 nurses and case workers organized with Teamsters Local 332 went out on a ULP (Unfair Labor Practice) strike at Henry Ford Genesys to demand better and safer working conditions. The workers voted 93% to strike after rejecting the “egregious final offer” from management.
“Teamsters nurses know their worth. That’s why 93 percent of the bargaining unit said, ‘Hell no,’ to this egregious offer from Henry Ford Genesys,” said Dan Glass, President of Local 332.
Teamsters Local 332 pledged that they will remain on strike until Henry Ford Genesys guarantees safe staffing, wage increases, and better working conditions.
In Chicago, over 5,000 workers rallied at the Haymarket Monument, the memorial for the martyrs of the Haymarket Massacre in 1886, which birthed the international workers’ holiday May Day. In the U.S., May Day, or May 1, has been shunned due to anti-communism, and in its place, Labor Day was established as a way to divide U.S. workers from the rest of the international working class.
The multi-racial crowd in Chicago then marched for three miles in the West Loop, rallying at two other sites, including at Valor Equity Partners, headed by Antonio Gracias, who heads the DOGE Immigration Task Force, and Target in support of the Target boycott.
On Labor Day, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) joined the national boycott call of Target after the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU-AFT Local 1) passed a resolution last week, joining the boycott.
“This movement comes at a crucial moment—when American workers find themselves at the whim of billionaires and board rooms that are more invested in money over people,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, at the Chicago demonstration.
A reminder to Target
“We want this resolution—and the full weight of our nearly 2 million members—to be a reminder to Target that there are consequences to dismissing the will of the American worker and that, until they do right, our members will be spending their money in places they feel respected and recognized.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former Chicago Teachers Union member and shop steward, spoke out and the heart of his speech was a call for “No Troops in Chicago” which the crowd shouted back to him. Then “Invest in Chicago” which the crowd of workers and their allies also chanted back.
Rev. Jamal Bryant flew in from Atlanta to be with the workers in Chicago, he said, indicating that the struggle is a national fight. He said he wanted to support the “most fearless leader in America,” the mayor of Chicago.
“If you want to fight for safety, don’t send in the National Guard—send in the teachers,” said Bryant. He highlighted the inequity when ICE agents make more than teachers. He then excoriated Target, which is on the receiving end of a national boycott for reneging on their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies after Trump got reelected.
“When you mess with our workers,” he said, “you mess with America.” He pointed out that the price of Target shares had dropped and the CEO was compelled to resign. He then went on to call the giant corporations Target and Tesla “enemies of the people.”
“We reject a billionaire’s attack on our city, taking from Medicaid and education,” said Stacey Davis Gates, President of the CTU. “Solidarity is the antidote to white supremacy…Lincoln didn’t free us, we freed ourselves, workers! We built the United States as we’ve known it and now workers will protect it.”
Many religious and community organizations also joined the rally and march, including the Chicago Club of the CPUSA. Elected officials, city council members, Congress members, Cook County Commissioners, State Senators, and State Representatives were also present.
In Houston, hotel workers organized with Unite HERE Local 23 launched a first-ever hotel strike at Hilton America’s in Texas, demanding a basic $23 an hour minimum wage, safety improvements, more staffing, and better quality food, among other demands.
“Last year, Hilton America’s revenue increased by more than 15% to $3 billion,” the union said. “But workers are still struggling to make ends meet…We will be on the picket lines for 9 days to demand better wages because one job should be enough!”
“The workers are feeling this need urgently, so that’s why the decision was made,” said Franchesca Caraballo, President of Unite Here Local 23. “We have to take it up several notches here to turn up the pressure on this company.”
Durham, North Carolina saw hundreds of workers, led by the Durham Workers Assembly, Union of Southern Service Workers, and SEIU march on Duke University to demand the university pay its workers a “fair share.” The unions pointed out that six billionaires who sit on the board of Duke also sit on $12 billion, are the largest landowners, and the largest employer. They declared boldly that “If we don’t get it, we will SHUT IT DOWN!”
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, over 6,000 workers and their allies flooded the streets demanding that workers all over the U.S. “rise up to build the society we all deserve,” including stopping the billionaire takeover of the government, defending Medicaid and Social Security, fully funded public education, housing, and healthcare for all, and to put a stop to the attacks on working families, immigrant workers, and to invest in people not wars.
WFTU makes international call for peace
Coinciding with the U.S. Labor Day this year, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) issued a pressing and timely statement on the occasion of the International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace. September 1 marks the grim anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland, which began World War II.
In its statement this year, the WFTU Secretariat declared that the struggle for peace is a necessity in an era “where the war economy is the imperialists’ agenda and the military expenses are skyrocketing, and while fascism, racism, and xenophobia rear their heads.”
The federation directly condemned the imperialist policies that prioritize militarism over human needs, calling out the 2025 NATO summit’s decision to “increase the military spending of its members to unprecedented levels.” This massive diversion of resources, the federation argues, exacerbates military confrontation while workers are left behind, forced to fight and die in wars, and pitted against one another for the profit of warmongers.
The WFTU also asserted the universal working-class demand that “these resources be channeled for their needs, for a better life, for adequate health care and quality education, for dignified salaries and pensions, for welfare benefits, and not to be ‘invested’ in the wars and bloodshed for the imperialists’ interests.”
It urged unions worldwide to take action under the slogan “We refuse to work for the war,” and to stand against any complicity, including to “refuse to work for the production, loading and transfer of weapons and military equipment, and to boycott any collaboration or facilitation linked with the Israeli occupation or other active battlefronts.”
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