UE Local 265 (MIT-GSU) President Lauren Chua joined other labor leaders at a “No Kings to May Day” virtual press conference on April 2 to speak about the importance of May Day and the next steps unions are taking to turn out working people for the action. Speakers placed emphasis on not only showing up on the streets on May Day but organizing in the days leading up to the event.

During the press conference, Chua said, “Higher education unions within UE are ready to build May Day as a real expression of people power. Across the country, people are talking about escalation, about strikes, about coordinated action, about using our collective power to actually stop Trump’s agenda in its tracks.”

Chua was joined by National Nurses United (NNU) President Mary Turner, Minnesota Federation of Educators President Marcia Howard, and UFCW Local 3000 President Faye Guenther. Each of them explained how they are organizing their members to turn out for May Day. Turner said that NNU is using their steward system to educate each member about the importance of the action. She also said, “We can’t just talk about problems, we have to talk about solutions.”

Howard emphasized the importance of organizing in between now and May Day. She said, “We are encouraging other unions and other organizations to make a stand in May so that we can show that we will not go gently into this fascist regime. … We have the power, we do. We just have to show it.” Guenther described the recent success unions had in her state of Washington in helping to pass the millionaire tax and using that energy towards showing up on May 1.

Chua described Local 256’s plans to use the next month to organize towards a new contract and towards a large May Day turnout. “We are looking forward to May Day to not only send a clear message to the MIT administration that we won’t settle for a contract that doesn’t protect student workers from ongoing attacks from the Trump administration but to also join millions of workers calling for ‘no school, no work, no shopping’ while attacks on working people continue everywhere. From ‘No Kings’ to May Day, we are building a movement that can fight and win. So let's make May Day be the turning point we need it to be.”

Towards the end of the press conference, Chua said, “Unions are excited to come together on May Day to show the Trump administration that working people make this country run and we won’t sit on the sidelines as our rights are being trampled. We can make change together.”