London Community rallies together for May Day

On Sunday, more than 70 London workers and community members gathered in Victoria Park to celebrate May Day. The celebration included music, chants, and speeches from local organizations and union chapters.

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, celebrates the labour movement and the workers behind it. The origins of May Day trace back to 1886, following a massive general strike in the United States involving workers across the nation striking to demand an eight-hour work day. In Chicago, on the third day, police officers fired into a crowd of striking workers, which incited a rally at the city’s Haymarket Square the next day. 

“Do you feel that? The spirit[s] of the Haymarket martyrs are with us today, and the ghost of Tom Jones as we celebrate the working class here in London,” said rally opener Anthony, recognizing that this year, the London May Day rally was held on the anniversary of the Haymarket Rally. Anthony emphasized solidarity and sharing struggles held by different vulnerable members of the working class imposed by the ruling elite and right-wing politicians.

“We know they like to target particular groups. Our Muslim friends, our queer and trans youth, immigrants, the unhoused left out in the elements on the streets … There’s no authority but ourselves. We don’t need to wait for officials to show up. We have the power, the knowledge, and the ability to care for one another.”

Twenty-two local organizations endorsed the rally, including Forest City Food Not Bombs, London’s chapter of the Canadian Palestinian Social Association (CPSA), Safe Space London, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Local 610.

London Labour Council president Patti Dalton pledged her dedication to working with local groups to meet the moment and fight back against the threats that are impacting both labour groups and vulnerable populations here in London.

“We are in a very dangerous historic moment … as a feminist, as someone who’s been in the labour movement for decades and has been a leader for decades, this is a very dangerous moment in history.”

Dalton expressed feeling a lack of hope given the daunting presence of threats facing labour — especially those taking place in the United States — but said she felt a motivation among the group of attendees and workers to hold on to hope: “We have to have hope, and especially have to have hope over hate.” This line encouraged a chant from the crowd, with “Hope over hate” echoing around the entrance to Victoria Park.

“It’s fascism — Thousands and thousands of federal workers are being fired in the United States … People like us are being randomly kidnapped, illegally kidnapped and imprisoned or sent out of the country,” added Dalton.

Recognizing that these actions come from the far-right government in the United States, Dalton reminded attendees of the importance of ensuring that our recently elected members of parliament don’t belong to far-right hate groups that echo the American ideologies being championed down south.

Dalton concluded by thanking the rally organizers and shared that she’s feeling more hope than she did before coming to the rally. “I draw strength from all of you — workers and unions are fighting back.” She then led a call-and-response styled chant:

“Workers are under attack, what do we do?

Stand up, fight back!

Unhoused people under attack, what do we do?

Stand up fight back!

Poor people under attack, what do we do?

Stand up fight back!

Public services under attack, what do we do?

Stand up fight back!

Racialized people under attack, what do we do?

Stand up fight back!

Palestinian solidarity under attack, what do we do?

Stand up fight back!

Democracy under attack, what do we do?

Stand up fight back!”

The next speaker, Kevin Jones, an advocate for injured workers, shared his gratitude for the turnout at the event. He encouraged attendees to keep the conversation going. 

“We need to get out there and spread awareness to workers about workplace safety, health and safety, and the rights that we have as workers,” said Jones. He encouraged protestors to attend an upcoming rally in Victoria Park on June 1st between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for the first provincially-recognized Injured Workers Day.

Rawan, a CPSA London member and healthcare worker, noted the importance of worker solidarity and upholding human rights. “We stand here to remind ourselves that [the] working class has always been powerful in changing laws and in ending apartheid. So by collectively standing against racism and fascism, we are here as workers from Turtle Island to Palestine.”

Rawan honoured the workers killed in Gaza for trying to help Palestinians survive the internationally-recognized genocide being committed by the state of Israel. According to numerous human rights organizations, in the past 18 months alone, Israel has targeted and killed more than 200 journalists, more than 1200 healthcare workers, and dozens of United Nations staff and World Central Kitchen volunteers. In addition, Palestinian doctors have been kidnapped and held in Israeli prisons. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, the head of orthopaedic surgery  at Al-Shifa hospital, was kidnapped and held in dire conditions in Israeli custody, ultimately leading to his death.

“I personally lost more than 17 family members in one go, last December,” shared Rawan. “We have the power as individuals to boycott, as unions to divest, and as a diverse body of workers to demand divestment and sanctions. It has been done in South Africa, and we have to make it happen again from Palestine — we have the power as workers.”

Tables at the event provided information regarding organizations such as Safe Space and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

“The defense of democracy includes the defense of the freedom to think, the freedom to learn, the freedom to research, and the freedom to teach,” shared UWOFA and Council of Canadians member David Heap. 

Jeff Hanks, a member of the London Health Coalition and the London Regional Social Forum, spoke on the rising danger of healthcare privatization, noting that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has funded private healthcare clinics.

“Our healthcare system is in grave danger, so we all need to try and fight for it,” said Hanks. He encouraged attendees to push for housing and for the recently elected Prime Minister Mark Carney to enforce the Canada Health Act, which ensures that medically necessary services are covered by the government.

Zach, from London’s Democratic Socialist of Canada branch, advertised a “really really free market” event, where participants could take what they needed at no cost, and encouraged community solidarity. 

“With everything going on, it’s more important than ever for working-class people to come together and work together to find what common ground we have,” he said. “Capitalism is such a monstrous beast that it requires all of our work to truly take it down.”

Farrah Sherrard, the secretary of the central and surrounding branches of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), spoke about movements they have supported and recent victories. These victories include successes across levels of government. 

Provincially, ACORN helped see the Ontario Disability Support Program being re-tied to inflation for the first time since the 1990s, as well as the increase in unemployment allowance from $200 to $1,000. Federally, ACORN pushed the government of Canada to pass a law capping bank Non-Sufficient Fund fees at $10. Here in London, ACORN pushed the city to pass a renoviction by-law. Renovictions, a process whereby a landlord evicts tenants under the claim that their unit requires major renovation, have affected many Londoners. 

“We petitioned, rallied, phone called, sat in, emailed, and organized tenants across the city and we won,” said Sherrard. The City’s by-law went into effect on March 1st.

ACORN’s next major project is municipal landlord licensing. “A lot of people need repairs done, they have pests, they have maintenance issues, that are not being addressed by their landlords. Landlord licensing would ensure that landlords are held accountable,” said Sherrard. They encouraged attendees to attend the Healthy Homes Forum that ACORN is hosting at their office on Thursday at 6 p.m..

Cailin, a PSAC 610 union member, noted how grateful she was to attend and help coordinate the event. “We’ve had so much show of support from labour, from activism, social activism, solidarity across all these different intersections — [it brings a] feeling seeing everyone I know in these various circles of my life come together in this one space to support each other.” Jack, a representative from the PSAC Southwest Regional Pride Committee echoed this feeling and shared the inspiration they gathered from hearing about all these local organizations. 

“To me, Pride is solidarity. That’s all there is to it.”

The rally ended around 1:30 p.m., with the crowd mingling following the last of the speeches. 

“Capitalism thrives on amnesia. It thrives on the amnesia of the working class,” said Morgan Oddie, a member of the Canadian Union of Labour Employees, and the International Socialists chapter in London.* “These types of events — they help us preserve our histories, our victories, our struggles, and we see how these struggles are inextricable from each other.”

Steve D’Arcy, one of the May Day organizers, noted that this is the third or fourth May Day event he’s participated in locally in the past 15 years. 

“The struggle of working-class people, it’s an international struggle, right? All over the world people are facing the same kinds of attacks to their wages, their living standards, their health and safety, to their human and civil rights — we want to be a part of that [struggle].”

The organizers anticipated much less support, expecting maybe four or five organizations to co-sponsor instead of the resulting 22. 

“There’s this sense that people want to find ways to support each other and to build each other’s struggles as well,” said D’Arcy. “That’s something I think this event should be about and can be about.”

The rally ended with live music from Frank Risdale, who sang about the power of labour organizing. 

In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,

Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.

We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old,

For the union makes us strong!

Solidarity forever! Solidarity forever! Solidarity Forever!

For the union makes us strong!

*Morgan Oddie is a board member for Antler River Media Co-op