from “le détroit” · the strait
More than 500 union members, immigrant-rights advocates, and Detroiters rallied in front of Michigan Central on May Day before marching to the ICE field office downtown.
Several hundred people gathered in Roosevelt Park on Friday, May 1, marking May Day with a rally on the lawn in front of Michigan Central Station and a march that ended downtown. Organizers and outlets covering the event counted more than 500 union members, immigrant-rights advocates, and working Detroiters in the crowd, per People's World.
The rally was hosted by the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO under the theme "Workers Over Billionaires," the same banner used for May Day actions in cities across the country. The Corktown gathering ran from roughly 4 to 6 p.m. in front of the restored station, with a stage set up beneath the building's facade.
Speakers tied the day's labor message to its history. The modern eight-hour workday and the weekend trace back to the 1886 movement that culminated in Chicago's Haymarket affair, and several speakers framed the rally as a continuation of that fight rather than a commemoration of it.
The program leaned heavily on the UAW, with leaders from across the region taking the stage. Laura Dickerson, a UAW vice president whose portfolio includes negotiations with Ford, pointed back to the union's 2023 Stand Up Strike as evidence that pressure works and that the work is not finished. "This last Stand Up Strike, the workers sacrificed and they were able to get great contracts, but it doesn't stop there, we have to continue," she told TV20 Detroit. LaShawn English, a UAW regional director, told the crowd the union was already organizing toward a larger May Day in 2028, when several major auto contracts are set to expire.
Other speakers came from across the labor coalition. Justin Steenbergh of IBEW Local 58 said the day was about both history and momentum, telling TV20 Detroit he hoped people would "walk away from this energized and ready to stand up for something" and that he wanted to see new unions forming. The program also included immigrant-rights organizers and elected officials, with U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib among those who addressed the crowd, per People's World.
Immigration was a central theme alongside wages and workplace conditions. After the speeches, marchers left Roosevelt Park and walked to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office at 985 Michigan Ave., then on to the McNamara Federal Building downtown, where they rallied against deportations and federal cuts before dispersing.
Detroit's action was one of more than 5,000 May Day events held nationwide that day, according to organizers. No arrests were reported.
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