A diverse coalition of more than 5,000 people representing unions, immigrant rights organizations, pro-Palestine coalitions, and socialist groups attended the AFL-CIO’s “For the Workers, Not the Billionaires” rally on May 1, 2025 at City Hall. The rally was followed by a march through center city where 70 people were arrested after engaging in a sit-in which blocked the intersection of Broad and Vine Streets.

Demonstrators who were arrested were protesting the policies of the Trump administration and the billionaire class who they claim have been eroding their rights and negatively impacting workers. May Day, also known around the world as “International Workers Day,” commemorates the history of worker struggles and labor organizing.

AFL-CIO President Daniel P. Bauder said to rally attendees, “It is so appropriate that we are all gathered here today, in one voice, standing up for our rights. May Day was the original Labor Day, and in many countries it still is. We are taking it back in Philadelphia.”

He continued, “We all know that a better world is possible, but we also know that we cannot rely on politicians alone to fix it. We are the many, and we have the power, not the billionaires or the oligarchs. We, the workers, have all of that power. We are so strong with our power when we are in solidarity today.”

In addition to supporting union workers, many people attended the May Day rally to see U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speak at City Hall. Senator Sanders, who is currently traveling the country with U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as part of the Fighting Oligarchy Tour, has been drawing crowds of tens of thousands in both blue states and in rural, more conservative towns.

Sanders talked about the importance of May Day in today’s political climate, “Brothers and sisters, what we are celebrating today, on May Day, is, in a sense, a sacred holiday. And all over our country, workers are coming out, demanding justice, and all over the world, in dozens of countries, workers are standing up to oligarchy and demanding a world in which all people have a decent standard of living.”

Sanders credited the labor movement for many of the rights workers have today, “We remember the struggles and the sacrifices of workers for hundreds of years who have stood up to the powerful special interest to create a better world, and today, we thank our brothers and sisters in the trade union movement for continuing to do it.”

Norristown activist, Natalie Santoro, said “I’m here because I think unions are really important, and I want to be supporting unions on May Day, which is really Labor Day around the world.”  Santoro said she was concerned about union busting, “I think unions are the only way out of what we are dealing with when it comes to Trumpism, and if they are going to be dismantling organized labor, I think it’s more important than ever that we show up for our union workers.”