Housing Tops May Day Rally Cry

by Nora Grace-Flood, New Haven Independent, May 2, 2023

Hundreds of activists took to the streets to commemorate International Workers’ Day — and to celebrate local strides taken to solidify people power not just across jobs, but within New Haven apartments, homeless encampments, and shelters.

New Haveners have formed a tradition of marking that worldwide May 1 labor day each year by embarking on a march for justice throughout downtown after gathering on the Green for hours of music, maypole dancing, and speeches spanning issues from worker protections to healthcare access to immigrant and indigenous rights to environmental action.

On Monday, that standard scene saw activists newly emboldened by a string of recent gains and losses in another foundational fight which New Haveners have largely been leading throughout the state, around affordable housing.

In addition to passing out fliers championing progressive causes and running ribbons around a post, organizers of Monday’s event added some flair to this year’s rendition by pedaling a quadricycle with an effigy of Mayor Justin Elicker strapped into the passenger’s seat over to City Hall where they blasted the administration for bulldozing a West River homeless encampment and sought to stir up more support for tenants’ rights.

Read the entire here in the New Haven Indepdendent: https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/mayday

May Day Celebration on the New Haven Green

by Melinda Tuhus, CT Climate Crisis Mobilization

This year’s May Day on the Green in New Haven marked International Workers Day with a new generation of activists. That was the view of Paula and Frank Panzarella, who initiated and organized May Days in New Haven for 25 years.

“It was nice to see others pick up the banner,” said Frank, complimenting the work done by Unidad Latina en Acción. “I was glad to see the Latino community come out, and it was great to see new young political activists with a variety of leftist parties. I think John Lugo and Megan Fountain did a really good job of putting it together. It’s hard to do on such a short time frame.”

Frank’s band, the Eclektics, played a long set geared more to the older crowd, joined for some songs by vocalist Renee Luna. A rock band of young musicians expressed their own political views in song. Several Latino bands played on the Green and during the march.

There was a table with literature highlighting the history of May Day, when workers in the U.S. – mostly immigrants – fought to establish the 8-hour workday in 1886. Violence erupted at the Chicago protest and police arrested the organizers; several were hanged. Those workers’ struggles for decent wages, working conditions, and dignity sparked the workers’ movement celebrated around the world on May Day.

“There was a reason why May 1 was picked to be the day to push for immigrant rights starting in 2006,” said Paula.

Speakers mentioned current fights for workers’ rights; the need for socialism; the connection between immigration and the climate crisis and why groups espousing immigrant rights and action on climate must work together to achieve their goals; and the fight for universal health care, among other issues. A member of ULA demanded “hero pay” for essential workers who risked their lives during the pandemic. Rep. Robyn Porter, co-chair of the state legislature’s Labor Committee, said the General Assembly has expanded health care for undocumented children to 12 and under from 8 and under, but she is fighting to extend it to age 18. She added that those under 12 who sign up will be covered until age 18.

The Haven free clinic offered free COVID test kits and masks, and Griffin Hospital had a tent nearby offering COVID vaccines.

Young children ran around the Green sporting creative face paint. “It was perfect weather to be out and about, joining in a community event, meeting old friends and new people, a relaxed atmosphere for sharing ideas and philosophy, and enjoying fun performances,” Paula said.

“We need to keep the ‘social’ in socialism to work together to figure things out,” Frank added. “I think it’s getting stronger. I’m glad they did the march because the issues for immigrants are still out there.”

After the four-hour celebration on the Green, complete with an endless supply of pizza (“the workers’ food,” John quipped), young and older set off on a march around downtown, stopping at points of protest or celebration – like recent moves to unionize at the College Street Music Hall and at a hotel on Chapel Street. The march ended on the campus of Yale University, where marchers demanded that Yale – with an endowment that ballooned to $42.3 billion during the pandemic – contribute more to its impoverished host city, especially when low-income residents are being pushed out due to rapidly rising rents.

May Day! Sunday, May 1, 12-6 p.m. New Haven Green

by Unidad Latina en Acción

United we are powerful! This May Day we are inviting all struggles to join us on the New Haven Green. It’s time to work together so that another world is possible:

  • Immigration reform now
  • Recovery for all
  • More money for education
  • Abolish solitary confinement
  • No to war
  • No to wage theft

Participate, so we can have a great May Day!!!

SUNDAY, MAY 1, 12 – 4 p.m. – Music, food, speakers, kids’ activities, and more!
4–6 p.m. — March for our rights!

Contact 203-606-3484, https://ulanewhaven.org, facebook.com/ULANewHaven.

CT People’s World May Day 2022: Art Perlo Presente

by Joelle Fishman, CT People’s World

CT People’s World May Day 2022: Art Perlo Presente on Sunday, May 1, 6:30 p.m., at the New Haven Peoples Center and also virtually on FB Live at 7 p.m.

Come together in solidarity for the launch of the Art Perlo Presente website carrying his legacy forward for a just society. 6:30 p.m. for pizza will be followed at 7 p.m. with the program launching of the Art Perlo Presente website, including clips from three videos (30th-anniversary Local 34, Black History Month Youth March honoring Art Perlo, and May Day Around the World 2021). Then enjoy at 8 p.m. “United to Fight Back,” a virtual celebration with the national People’s World.

Art Perlo Presente includes selections from Art’s writings, videos, recipes, tributes, photos, and organizing as well as “Building the Movement Today,” with an opportunity to add a post. It promises to be a valuable and lively resource for education and action.

Sunday, May 1, at the New Haven Peoples Center, 37 Howe Street and also virtually on FB Live at https://www.facebook.com/events/504174641206708

Contributions can be made at: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/art-perlo-presente-carry-it-forward

Then watch “United to Fight Back,” a virtual national People’s World celebration: https://peoplesworld.org/article/peoples-world-may-day-celebration-fundraiser

For more information, email [email protected]

Planning for May Day Has Begun!

by Rosalba Montoya Gaviria and John Lugo, ULA

Unidad Latina en Acción is preparing for May 1st (International Workers Day) and we want to count on each one of you. Current plans include a march starting from the New Haven Green at noon and a 4 p.m. rally at Yale. This is a statewide event. There is a connection between immigration reform and the climate emergency, which creates refugees and draws people to the U.S. because they are displaced due to their activism in their own countries. Change comes only when the people force politicians to do the right thing.

For anyone wishing to be part of May Day planning, email [email protected] and put “MAY DAY” in the subject line. Please join our meetings Saturdays at 3 p.m. and Mondays at 7 p.m. at New Haven Peoples Center, 37 Howe St. and on Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/78915076091

Thanks again for all your help, United We Are Stronger!

Rosalba Montoya Gaviria
203-981-4023

May Day, International Workers’ Day Events

Saturday, May 1, New Haven, noon – 4 p.m. rally and march
May 1 is a critical time to take to the streets in a broad coalition for migrant justice and worker justice. Unidad Latina en Acción is convening a “Day Without Immigrants” massive rally on the New Haven Green, and a march at 4 p.m. For information go to ULA’s Facebook page or call (475) 323-9413.

March & Rally to Demand a Long Term Caregivers Bill of Rights at 12 p.m. Event at the Governor’s Mansion, by SEIU District 1199 New England, 15 Trinity St, Hartford. They call us heroes, but on the job – Home Care, Group Home, and Nursing Home workers – we are treated like we’re expendable. May 1st is International Workers’ Day – and we’re calling on Governor Lamont to CARE FOR CAREGIVERS by ending the cycle of structural racism that devalues the work of predominantly Black, Brown, and working class white women who work in long term care.

We are gathering in the northwest corner of Elizabeth Park in West Hartford and marching the half-mile up Asylum Ave. and turning onto Prospect St. to rally in front of the Governor’s mansion.

Free parking and socially distanced shuttle bus beginning at 11:15 from the 1199 office at 77 Huyshope Ave, Hartford. More info: www.facebook.com/events/466564707915332

Workers of the World Unite for an Equitable RECOVERY FOR ALL Sunday, May 2, at 4 p.m. EDT (US & Canada) via Zoom. Host Contact Info: [email protected].

May Day 2021, International Workers’ Day, comes one year into the COVID-19 crisis, as workers resist racial and economic inequalities and demand fundamental change and a Recovery for All. Come together in unity & solidarity for a special rally hosted by CT People’s World.
Spanish language interpretation will be provided.

Rally Program:

  • Special Guest: RECOVERY FOR ALL Coalition Members;
  • Panel discussion with 1199 workers, Husky For Immigrants, Yale Union workers, also public workers from AFT on the front lines of the fight for essential workers and all workers;
  • Slide show of resistance and victories by workers on all continents, including in CT during COVID-19, challenging giant corporate profits from the impoverishment of working people;
  • Solidarity actions and demands.

Register now using the link below. After registering, you will get a confirmation email with information about joining the rally.

PeoplesWorld.org has extensive coverage of the COVID-19 crisis and struggles for racial, economic and climate justice on the side of the multi-racial working class. Contributions are welcomed to help People’s World get over economic problems due to the pandemic, and continue to contribute to the labor and people’s movements and thrive. Please mail donations to CT People’s World Committee, 37 Howe St., New Haven, CT 06511.

For more visit https://tinyurl.com/FB654654may-day-2021

May 1 Connecticut – Día de Trabajadores

by Unidad Latina en Acción and CT Workers Crisis Response

Friday, May 1, 2020, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Hartford.

From every corner of Connecticut, we will take to the streets of Hartford in a car rally on May Day, International Workers’ Day. At the same time, an online rally will amplify the demands of CT workers. In this crisis, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer; and black people, Latinx people, and working people are the majority of the ones dying. The rich and powerful are demonstrating that they value their profits more than our lives. Workers and unemployed people are fed up. We are compelled to build a more just society that values our lives over their profits. Call us for rally details.

If you want to endorse… If you want to get involved… please sign up here: https://ulanewhaven.org/may-day-2020 Telephone: (203) 606-3484.

May Day 2020: International Worker Solidarity: COVID-19 and Beyond, Sunday, May 3, 3 p.m.

This year May Day, International Workers Day, comes in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Come together in solidarity and unity for a special one-hour May Day 2020 Rally hosted by CT People’s World:

INTERNATIONAL WORKER SOLIDARITY: COVID-19 AND BEYOND

Sunday, May 3 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. via Zoom and phone.

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uEEDPXkeS4ybRusFhWFR9g

See on Facebook at May Day 2020: International Worker Solidarity: COVID and Beyond
Rally Program:
* Special Guest: Steve Noffke, UAW Local 600, Dearborn, Michigan
* Panel of Connecticut workers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 and for workers rights
* Special slide show presentation of working-class struggles around the world
* Solidarity actions and demands
* Staying physically distant, but socially organized to put

People and Planet before Profits!
Register in advance:
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uEEDPXkeS4ybRusFhWFR9g
After registering, you will get a confirmation email with information about joining the rally.

Happy May Day! Continue the Struggle for Justice!

by the PAR Planning Committee

Since the nationwide strike for the 8-hour workday in 1886, the first of May has become a historic day for the struggles of working people, and for over a hundred years May 1 has been celebrated as International Workers’ Day. Locally, in 1970, the May Day protests on the New Haven Green demanded freedom for Bobby Seale, justice for the Black Panthers, and the end of the Vietnam War. Starting in 1987 and continuing for thirty years on the Green, the annual May Day celebration each year brought together dozens of organizations to promote their work for labor rights, peace, human rights, and economic rights to the broader New Haven community. And since 2006, city-wide marches for immigrants’ rights are held on May 1. Peace, racism, police brutality, union struggles, fair wages, anti-war, immigration, a safe environment, criminal justice issues, labor history, welfare rights organizing, the right to healthcare — these are some of the struggles and issues in the celebration of international solidarity.

April was a month full of upsurge. From April 11-21, Stop & Shop workers from Connecticut, Rhode Island and

Massachusetts (31,000 workers) were on strike. The union considers the new contract a victory, preserving healthcare and retirement benefits and providing wage increases. The next strike in Connecticut will be unionized workers in nursing homes. They are scheduled to strike on May 1.

For days there have been massive protests and marches in New Haven and Hamden condemning the thoroughly unjustified Hamden and Yale police shooting in New Haven of two African-Americans in their early twenties on April 16. Thankfully, Stephanie Washington is recovering from her bullet wounds, and Paul Witherspoon was not hit. Video from the police body cameras has not yet been released. As of this writing, people will gather at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 6 at the Hamden Town Hall for the Legislative Council Meeting. We urge our readers to join in the many rallies for justice around these and other issues and be inspired by the many people at the forefront of these struggles for their lives and their livelihoods.

May Day 2019 — 100 Years of Struggle for Workers’ Rights

by Joelle Fishman, CT People’s World

The annual Connecticut People’s World rally for International Workers’ Day will highlight union organizing today and in history. Themed “May Day 2019: 100 Years of Struggle for Workers’ Rights,” the rally will be held on Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m. at the New Haven Peoples Center, 37 Howe St. The event, held during the 100th anniversary year of the Communist Party USA, will include a brief history of labor organizing by the Communist Party since its founding in 1919 and continuing today.

The experience of organizing food service workers who won a union last year at United Airlines will be shared by Jaime Myers-McPhail who lived in Colorado for several months working on the campaign, and his colleague Charlie Delgado who participated for a shorter time. Myers-McPhail is an organizer in New Haven with New Haven Rising and Unite Here.

“May Day Around the World” slide show will show workers’ protests and actions from every continent including many demands for equality for immigrant workers. The afternoon will be capped off with labor songs led by some of those who participated in the newly formed labor chorus at the Women’s March in Hartford this year.

On May 1, 1886, thousands of workers marched in Chicago to demand relief from brutal 12- and 14-hour workdays. A few days later, a suspicious bomb killed several Chicago police and protesters in Haymarket Square. Four of the march leaders were framed and executed. In their memory, May Day was proclaimed a day of international workers’ struggle and solidarity. In the United States, May Day took on new life when immigrant workers from Latin America held mega-marches for their rights in 2006. May Day 2019 is part of the resistance against the anti-people Trump/ Republican white supremacy agenda, and the rising movements to put peace, planet and people before profits

Donation is $5 or what you can afford. A fund appeal for the People’s World will be made. For information e-mail [email protected] or call (203) 624-4254.

May Day/International Workers’ Day and Immigrants’ Rights Rally and March

Dozens of area organizations endorsed the day-long May Day and immigrants’ rights rally on the New Haven Green where many hundreds enjoyed entertainment, speakers and exhibits. The day ended with a march from downtown through Grand Avenue, a great example of networking and building a local coalition of resistance. In addition to the sponsors listed on the flyers, there were many more that helped build this day of action, such as Progressive Action Roundtable, People Against Injustice, May Day Celebration Committee, Food Not Bombs, the Shoreline Green Party and GNH Labor History Association.

The support and solidarity for this year’s May Day was broad. Among the speakers prior to the march was Mayor Toni Harp, who declared that New Haven will remain a city welcoming to immigrants.
RESIST Foundation, which awarded a generous grant for the event, wants more people to know about their work so potential applicants and donors will be aware of Radical Philanthropy. Contact them at 259 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144. Telephone: (617) 623-5110.

Website: resist.org.
Local TV station WTNH posted a video on its website with its news story: wtnh.com/2017/05/01/ new-haven-may-day-protests-take-on-new-urgency-under-trump/

Celebrate May Day May 1 with International Workers’ Day Rally and General Strike

Call for General Strike on May 1!

For full video coverage of the May Day festivities, visit http://www.thestruggle.org/Mayday%202017%20in%20New%20Haven.htm.

The rally begins with speakers and performers on the New Haven Green from noon to 5 p.m. on Monday, May 1, and will be followed by a Solidarity March starting at 5 p.m.

New Haven joins a call for a nationwide strike to demonstrate our economic power by not going to work, not going to school and stopping business as usual. We aim to highlight the economic power of workers: immigrants, women, Muslims, LGBTQ folks, Native Americans and African Americans and every other marginalized group that is currently under attack by the Trump administration.

We are asking you to join us and show solidarity: close your business on May 1; don’t go to work; don’t go to school.

Join the rally on the New Haven Green from 12 to 5 p.m. Speakers, live music, children’s activities, and a May pole! Join local justice, peace, equality, and labor groups as well as social service organizations, educators, students, healthcare workers, artists and ALL people on the Green.

Join the international workers’ march from the Green through Fair Haven at 5 p.m.

Funded in part by a grant from RESIST, Somerville, MA; web: http://resist.org; phone: (617) 623-5110.

May Day on the New Haven Green Sunday, May 1, from noon to 5 p.m.

by May Day Celebration Committee

Come celebrate May Day, International Workers’ Day, Sunday, May 1st from 12 noon until 5 p.m. on the New Haven Green. Raindate: Sunday May 8.

may-day-2015This is the 30th consecutive year of May Day on the Green. May Day is a multi-cultural festival featuring live music, poetry, dance, children’s activities, speak-out time, a May Pole Dance and displays and information tables from local labor, peace, social service and social justice groups. May Day is a participatory event that is free and everyone is invited.

At a time when labor unions are being harassed around the country, we celebrate labor unions as being a worker’s best hope. At a time when immigrants are still struggling for their rights, we celebrate our immigrant heritage and culture.

Our featured performers on the New Haven Green include “Coalition Hip Hop” and “N-Finity Muzik.”

For more information visit us at #newhavenmayday or call (203) 843-3069.

Schedule May Day 2016

  • Noon Opening Remarks “May Day and New Haven’s demand for immigrant rights”
  • 12:15 Steph Serenita (Singer/Songwriter)
  • 12:45 Bread Is Rising (Poetry Collective)
  • 1 p.m. Open Mic
  • 1:15 Phil Dunlop (Clean water activist, Singer/Songwriter)
  • 1:30 Luke Rodney (Caribbean, World)
  • 2 p.m. Not Here (Jam Music)
  • 2:30 Open Mic
  • 2:45 Chris Garaffa (ANSWER Coalition –Act Now to Stop War And End Racism)
  • 3 p.m. Coalition (Hip Hop)
  • 3:30 May Pole Dance led by Bill Fischer with Out On a Whim–Mickey Koth and Kendall Alderman
  • 4 p.m. N-Finity Muzik (Hip Hop)
  • 4:45 Speak Out Time and Closing Remarks

Also: Fun activities throughout the day–Flint Ladder Circus Arts, New Haven Radical Cheerleaders, Snappy the Peas/ce Pod, Face Painting, Bubbles, Free Vegetarian Food, Graffiti Wall participatory art project, Information Tables

Admission: Free

International Workers’ Day: Fighting for Our Future, May 1

by Joelle Fishman, CT People’s World

The People’s World in Connecticut is hosting its annual celebration of International Workers’ Day on Sunday, May 1 at 4 p.m. at the King-Davis Labor Center, 77 Huyshope Ave., Hartford. The lives of workers and the 99% are on the line here and around the world and people are in motion. On May Day 2016 we are “Fighting for Our Future.”

We are honored to welcome keynote speaker John Wojcik, editor of People’s World and vice president of the International Labor Communications Association who lives in Chicago.

A panel including representatives of state workers and immigrants and those struggling for jobs in Connecticut will highlight key demands of the moment.

The program includes a presentation of May Day Around the World, music and home made buffet. Donation is $5 or what you can afford. A fund appeal for the annual People’s World will be made. For more information, call (203) 624-4254.

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