CHICAGO — May Day felt especially urgent this year for thousands of Chicagoans who took to the streets Friday demanding increased labor rights and protections.

“You have to look at the actions that the Trump administration has taken over the last year and the impact of our economy on working people to understand where this urgency comes from,” said Sharmili Majmudar, who took the day off from Chicago-based nonprofit Women Employed to join Friday’s International Worker’s Day march in Chicago.

In her outreach to working women across Chicago, Majmudar said she’s seen many women struggle with a rising cost of living — worsened by the Iran War’s impact on gas prices — and a local job market strained by the residual effects of Operation Midway Blitz on the city’s immigrant communities.

Those factors helped fuel Friday’s May Day turnout, she said.

“Chicago is a labor town, and being focused on workers is just as much a part of what the city is as Sears Tower.”

People hold signs and wave flags from an overpass as the annual May Day march passes above the Kennedy Expressway on May 1, 2026, in Chicago, Ill. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, honors workers and labor rights and holds particular significance in Chicago, where the modern labor movement traces back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for Block Club Chicago

Chicago was one of hundreds of cities across the country where people took to the streets to mark May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day. The a holiday has deep roots in the city’s labor history. Celebrated on May 1, the holiday commemorates the Haymarket Affair, a pivotal moment in labor history that took place in Chicago on May 4, 1886.

This year, labor advocates and city officials unveiled a plaque Friday morning honoring May Day at the Haymarket Memorial, 151 N. Desplaines St., after the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teacher’s Union agreed to designate the holiday as a districtwide “day of civic action,” meaning field trips and special civics lessons for students.

“Shout-out to all of the students in our Chicago Public Schools and our educators who have declared this day of civic action,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Friday morning. “The labor movement is in good hands because we have students across this city that are raising awareness of what justice looks like, not just in Chicago but all over the world.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stands with participants near Union Park and leads the annual May Day march through the city on May 1, 2026, in Chicago, Ill. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, honors workers and labor rights and holds particular significance in Chicago, where the modern labor movement traces back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for Block Club Chicago

By 1 p.m. Friday, several different morning protests coalesced into a sea of homemade signs and rippling banners in Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph St. Following an interfaith prayer service and rally, demonstrators marched towards downtown, eventually reaching Daley Plaza a little after 4 p.m.

A laundry list of topics were raised by speakers and protesters. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s targeting of Chicago neighborhoods, the United States and Israel’s war with Iran and the increasing dominance of billionaires over American workers all came up. Fighting those issues requires far-reaching solidarity, organizers said.

“Only in unity can we win the liberation that we seek and deserve for workers’ rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, racial justice and economic justice,” said Lawrence Benito, the executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “This is a growing national movement to not only defend our communities, but also to fight for dignity, safety and justice.”

People gather at Union Park for the Annual May Day Rally and March, including community groups, activists and labor unions, marching through downtown streets on May 1, 2026, in Chicago, Ill. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, honors workers and labor rights and is especially significant in Chicago, where the modern labor movement traces back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for Block Club Chicago

Several different union leaders took the stage to promote their causes, including the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s Andy Trebing, who helped unionize Lincoln Park’s REI store and assisted in unionizing a San Diego location last week. After four years, the union and REI still have not come to an agreement for a fair contract, necessitating a May 15 boycott of the company, Trebing said.

“For years, we have been trying to reach a first contract with this alleged progressive company,” Trebing said. “We’ve been trying to get this contract for four years for 12 stores. They’ve withheld raises and bonuses. They’ve stopped promoting people, they’ve cut hours, they’ve cut our benefits.”

Mike Chex, a 32-year International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers member, marched in solidarity on Friday and lamented the state of unionization in modern America.

“If I didn’t have a union, I wouldn’t be able to have retired today,” he said. “I had a contract, and it gave me health care that I could take with me a living wage, a decent wage standard and protection from discrimination in the workplace. Unions are under heavy pressure today, especially the way this country prioritizes corporations.”

National union membership has shrunk from a third of Americans in 1954 to about 10 percent in the 2020s, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“It’s going to be a slow process of change, but it starts here, in the streets,” Chex said. “This is what democracy looks like.”

A young person walks quietly with a sigh that simply said, “No.” at the annual May Day march through the city on May 1, 2026, in Chicago, Ill. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, honors workers and labor rights and holds particular significance in Chicago, where the modern labor movement traces back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for Block Club Chicago

A skirmish erupts between supporters of President Donald Trump and other demonstrators in Union Park before the start of the May Day march on May 1, 2026, in Chicago, Ill. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, honors workers and labor rights and holds particular significance in Chicago, where the modern labor movement traces back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for Block Club Chicago

Thousands of people join the annual May Day march, including community groups, activists and labor unions, marching through downtown streets on May 1, 2026, in Chicago, Ill. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, honors workers and labor rights and is especially significant in Chicago, where the modern labor movement traces back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for Block Club Chicago

A boy cheers in the crowd at the May Day rally in Union Park before the start of the May Day march on May 1, 2026, in Chicago, Ill. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, honors workers and labor rights and holds particular significance in Chicago, where the modern labor movement traces back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for Block Club Chicago

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