Hundreds of Thousands Plan to Attend Anti-Trump Labor Strike on May 1

By Max Greenwood, The Hill

20 March 17

undreds of thousands of service workers will strike on May 1, seizing on the wave of opposition among labor organizations to President Trump, BuzzFeed News reported Saturday.

May 1, International Workers' Day, is traditionally a magnet for labor demonstrations. More than 300,000 food chain employees and 40,000 service workers are expected to participate in the massive strike.

Among the most notable groups participating in the protest are the Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, led by David Huerta, who said that tens of thousands of his chapter’s members will walk off the job.

“We understand that there’s risk involved in that, but we’re willing to take that risk in order to be able to move forward in this moment, while the most marginalized are in the crosshairs of this administration,” Huerta told BuzzFeed.

A statement announcing the strike called it a rejection of Trump’s hardline immigration policies and “agenda of hate and greed.”

“We need to show this Administration, Congress and large corporate interests that our human and economic worth is more powerful than their agenda of hate and greed,” the statement reads. “Opposing Trump is not enough. We must stop him.”

Since his electoral win in November, Trump has been the target of massive protests opposing his remarks about immigrants, minorities, women and Muslims.

Those demonstrations have continued throughout the first two months of his presidency, particularly surrounding measures on immigration and executive orders barring citizens of certain Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S.