What May Day means in Pittsburgh
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Labor activists will meet Friday at United Steelworkers Building for a May Day march. Photo: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Labor rights are integral to Pittsburgh's history and growth as a region, and International Workers' Day is a great opportunity to remember them.
The big picture: Labor groups and local activists will be holding marches, parades and events Friday and this weekend to commemorate May Day.
Context: May Day's origins in America trace back to the fight for the eight-hour workday movement in Chicago in the late 1800s, which grew into a violent struggle in the 1886 Haymarket Affair.
- Before that, May Day was a European holiday that included dancing around maypoles to celebrate the start of summer.
- Yes, but: International Workers' Day is not as popular locally as Labor Day, when Pittsburgh puts on one of the largest workers' rights parades in the country.
Flashback: Southwestern Pennsylvania has several high-profile events involving labor strife — including the more-than-three-year strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — and helped inspire some of the early Chicago labor movement.
- Pittsburgh Proclamation of 1883: Chicago activists and trade union delegates created the International Working People's Association and a workers' manifesto during a visit to Pittsburgh. They returned to Chicago and pushed their manifesto into socialist newspapers that were read by Chicago union members.
- Battle of Homestead: The Homestead Strike of 1892 and the bloody battle that followed were a major setback for the nation's labor movement and quelled large-scale union organizing victories for decades.
- NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.: The landmark 1937 U.S. Supreme Court case tested President Franklin Roosevelt's new Wagner Act worker protections for workers at the Aliquippa steel plant, but the justices upheld the act's constitutionality, paving the way for increased labor rights across the nation.
The latest: Immigrant rights and labor groups will participate in a "Workers Over Billionaires, Immigrants Over ICE" march Friday starting at 6pm at the United Steelworkers Building (60 Boulevard of the Allies) in Downtown.
What they're saying: "While marching in the streets won't make billionaires pay their fair share or get ICE agents off our streets, we believe solidarity events like this are a first step," said Erika Ortiz of immigrant rights group Casa San José, which is organizing the march.
- "We'll use this momentum to meet our neighbors, organize our communities, and work together to fight for a city where everyone can thrive."
What's next: Polish Hill is hosting a May Day parade Saturday starting at noon.