Labor Day: Hundreds of thousands take part in Workers Over Billionaires rallies
Hundreds of thousands of workers and community members around the US turned out for Labor Day "Workers Over Billionaires" rallies.
More than 500,000 people reportedly took part in rallies led by the May Day Strong Coalition of organizations and labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, Our Revolution, Public Citizen.
The demonstrations took place seven months into the second Trump administration, amid growing public concerns over increased attacks on organized labor as well as on immigrant communities, civil and voting rights, education, and Palestinian human rights.
"We have to summon our history to rise to the historic moment we're in today," Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said in a statement.
"Enslaved Africans broke the back of the confederacy through a general strike and a coalition with abolitionists," Gates continued. "We’re going to need that organizing and that level of coalition to confront Trump’s attempt to bring the confederacy back. It won’t be stopped just in the courts or at the ballot box."
"Authoritarianism and the robbing of our children's future stops when labor and communities organize together to demand a country that works for workers instead of the billionaires."
Highlights from Labor Day 2025
There were a number of highlights from Labor Day 2025 as workers stood up to demand their due.
Hotel workers at Hilton Americas-Houston kicked off a strike for a minimum wage of at least $23 an hour, while people across Seattle turned out to protest the private companies facilitating Donald Trump's anti-immigrant, anti-worker agenda.
In Durham, hundreds of workers marched on Duke University for higher pay, chanting, "If we don't get it, shut it down!"
Chicago saw Mayor Brandon Johnson join residents in opposing Trump's threats to send the National Guard into the Windy City, similar to the occupation underway in Washington DC.
Meanwhile, thousands of people turned out alongside federal, state, and local lawmakers for Boston's first-ever Labor Day parade.
Hany Khalil, executive director of the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO, said, "The Trump administration and their allies are taking a wrecking ball to the gains of the last 125 years. So on this Workers’ Labor Day, working people are coming together to say we are not each other’s enemies."
"We can make government work for working people, not the billionaires, by building sustained power that shows up every day – not just once every four years. Politics alone won't fix what’s wrong with this country."
"Working people who organize together are going to save ourselves."
More impressions from Labor Day 2025
The May Day Strong Coalition said the turnout on Labor Day was double that of International Workers' Day four months ago.
Cover photo: Audrey Richardson / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP