Unions Under Attack: May Day March Ends as TWU Rallies in Front of 2 Broadway

May 1 – On May Day, also known as International Workers Day in the US and Labor Day in most other countries, TWU Local 100 marched and rallied as part of a contingent of thousands that headed down Broadway from Foley Square, ending up at MTA Headquarters.

Speaking outside of 2 Broadway and repeatedly pointing up at the windows where MTA executives work, Local 100 President John V. Chiarello said, “Today marks the day when we put our stake in the ground, and we're gonna fight. And when we fight, we win.”

“This is not a test,” he said, pointing up at the building. “They talk about capital plans; they talk about billions of dollars. They're not going to get it off our backs. Do you know where they’re going to get it from? – right there!”

“You can fire consultants, you can fire contractors, but we move New York,” he said to the cheers of the large union contingent. “We have a message for Chairman Janno Lieber. This is just a small army – but we have 44-thousand members. Make no mistake about it; it’s not going to be easy. But we stick together, we fight together, and we win.”

The rally and march, called by the Central Labor Council and allied groups, called for solidarity against “the billionaires who are waging a war on working people.”

“On May Day,” organizers said, “hundreds of thousands of us stood together and stood strong, fighting for public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, shared prosperity over free market politics. Working people built this nation and we know how to take care of each other. We won’t back down—we will never stop fighting for our families and the rights and freedoms that ensure access to opportunity and a better life for all Americans. Their time is up.”

At a simultaneous event in Philadelphia, US Senator Bernie Sanders said, “Over the last 50 years, the very richest people in this country have become much richer, while 800,000 people today sleep out on the street and the average worker struggles.”

Chiarello echoed those remarks at the end of his rallying speech to transit workers: “There are billionaires, millionaires, bureaucrats that are trying to take everything we got from us. This is the real world. Unions are going to be decimated. Stop fighting each other and fight the enemy -- and the enemy's there.” He called this the opening rally of next year’s contract campaign and urged every attendee to bring five or ten other members to the next action, predicting that we would fill the blocks between 2 Broadway and the tip of the island.