city budget<\/a> slated for release next week that some say prioritizes law enforcement over social services and laborers, and concerns about mass immigration detention and deportation. May 1 is International Workers\u2019 Day, and a strong presence from union leaders is expected as the groups continue to advocate for living wages. <\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking at what\u2019s going on in our community,\u201d Zachmeyer said. \u201cFor us, one of the big issues we\u2019re facing is the TEA takeover of our schools and that attack on democracy. We work very closely with labor and want to support labor rights in general. Our coalition came up with \u2018our labor, our voices, our power\u2019 as our mantra around this. This event is meant to be a moment where we stop and say, we\u2019re workers and we do the work that built this city. We need to stop and recognize that our roles are important.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/May-Day.jpg\")
May Day events are scheduled Friday throughout the Houston area. Credit: Screenshot<\/p>\n
About 3,500 May Day events are planned across all 50 states, up from about 1,000 last year. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement that May Day is rooted in the fight for fair wages, safe workplaces and better lives. <\/p>\n
\u201cToday, as families face rising costs and economic uncertainty, that fight is as urgent as ever,\u201d Weingarten said. \u201cToo often, decisions that shape our paychecks, our schools and the cost of everyday life are driven by those at the top, instead of the people doing the work. That includes attacks on immigrant workers who are an essential part of our workplaces and communities. That\u2019s why May Day isn\u2019t just about showing up in the streets. Worker power is how we come together. Civic action is how we turn that power into real change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NEW Houston event will feature a brief presentation on the Houston budget and Know Your Rights training, which educates people on legal protocols when they interact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Vendor booths will be set up to showcase other local resources, Thowfeek said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be doom and gloom,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s all this stuff going on in Houston with the HPD-ICE [ordinance] and I just read that one in five immigrants are not showing up in Houston-area schools. There are all these rising costs with state and federal decisions. People are feeling fed up and like they\u2019re not being represented. A lot of this is about collective action and what we can do together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zachmeyer said the Houston organizers aren\u2019t opposed to \u201cno work, no school, no shopping\u201d mandate that\u2019s being pushed by some of the other May Day organizers but they\u2019re focused on \u201cradical joy\u201d and building community.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything\u2019s been hard lately,\u201d she said. \u201cWe wanted to be together in community and look for opportunities to get involved and meet one another. A lot of us don\u2019t really know our neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
She acknowledged that undocumented immigrants don\u2019t often feel safe or comfortable at large public gatherings. While Houston hasn\u2019t seen ICE agents swarming protests, Zachmeyer said what federal immigration authorities do is beyond her control. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have to do what they need to do to keep their families safe,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t say that ICE agents won\u2019t show up but we don\u2019t have a reason to believe that they will. I feel hopeful that we can turn the tides on these things but we have to make sure our communities are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
NEW Houston\u2019s May Day event<\/a> is scheduled from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday, May 1, at McGregor Park on Calhoun Road. Other Houston-area May Day events include a protest by Indivisible Katy at the Social Security office at 13302 Westheimer. Rallies are planned for 5 p.m. at Alief Community Park on Bellaire Boulevard, Veterans Memorial Park on Tidwell and Mason Park at Plaza Viva on South 75th.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston union employees, teachers and immigrant advocates are joining the national May Day Strong movement on Friday with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":763449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[113716,313657,12730,4345,409,305886,46301,313658,358,3187,290325],"class_list":{"0":"post-763448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-no-kings","9":"tag-amy-zachmeyer","10":"tag-homepage","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-immigration","13":"tag-may-day","14":"tag-public-education","15":"tag-tariq-thowfeek","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-union-workers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116493169881789739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}