Chicago activists see May Day strike as a call for worker power

Workers across Chicago joined a nationwide May 1 strike protesting Trump administration policies on immigration enforcement and international relations.

Organizers of the strike included the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the Consejo de Resistencia, the Chicago Teachers Union, and the ANSWER Coalition. 

Chicago-based activist and May Day organizer Lily Eagla said organizers wanted the strike to call attention to what they described as "endless wars."

By stepping away from work, school, and consumer spending for a day, organizers hoped to illustrate the collective power workers hold in the U.S. economy. “The goal with the strike will be to have a significant effect on the U.S. economy, and to send a message to the U.S. government that the people of the United States … do not agree with what they're doing,” Eagla said. 

She added that while government officials may already be aware of public opposition, the strike would "make them care that we care."

“We want to send a message first to the people at the top, but also to the other workers,” Eagla said. “… You're working all day long, you're going to school, you're catching up with the news if you want. And all you see is just the burden of reality that your government is constantly perpetuating. And the only way out is through, and the only way through is by organizing together.”

Chicago is no stranger to strikes. The Haymarket affair, during which a bomb exploded at a labor rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square, helped inspire International Workers' Day on May 1.

The day is internationally recognized as a celebration of workers. However, according to Brandon Jaimes, an organizer with Chicago’s chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, May Day is less prominent in the U.S. in relation to other nations.

“So many countries across Europe, China, in Latin America, celebrate this as a commemoration of workers, and the United States is actually one of the few countries in the world where there is no formal designation or recognition by the government of the role that workers play in supporting society,” Jaimes said. “There is Labor Day, but that's separate from this international celebration of workers across the globe.”

Jaimes said mobilizing people from every sector would empower workers and show their value.

“It would just have this paralyzing effect on the city that would really show that it is the working people of Chicago that make things run, and in spite of the assaults of the Trump administration, when we unify in this way, we show where the power really lies, which is with the people,” Jaimes said.

Organizers said this year's May Day mobilization was particularly prominent. Alithia Zamantakis, an educator and organizer with the ANSWER Coalition, said the pro-Palestinian movement helped fuel this year's May Day mobilization.

“I think it's really prominent because people have just come out of this wave of demonstrations and actions in solidarity with Palestine for the last 3 years after October 7th,” Zamantakis said.

The strike followed a "National Shutdown" action on Jan. 30, 2026, a mass mobilization in response to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota. 

“That introduced a lot of people to the idea of a general strike,” Eagla said.

Organizers also compared the strike to the 2006 "Day Without an Immigrant" demonstrations, which protested anti-immigrant legislation known as the Sensenbrenner bill.

Zamantakis said mass mobilizations on May 1 that year helped defeat the bill. 

Organizers said interest in International Workers' Day continues to grow. Thousands of people participated in May Day demonstrations across Chicago this year, including a large march from Union Park to Daley Plaza.

“People often feel so helpless. They're like, ‘Things can't change,’ but the reality is, our history of being able to change things is just hidden from us, and May Day is a great way to actually shine a light on that history,” Zamantakis said.