KNOXVILLE - On Friday, May 1, members of multiple labor unions and community organizations will gather in Market Square from 5-7PM to host a May Day Rally. The event is open to the community and will involve speeches from labor and community organizational leaders, including Beau Hawk, the President of the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Central Labor Council. Singing Resistance Knoxville and other musicians will also perform as part of the programming. This event honors May Day as an international holiday for labor rights and worker solidarity.

Nationwide, there is a labor-led coordinated day of action this year calling for no work, no school, and no shopping as a part of the May Day Strong effort. The statewide coalition Tennessee For All is helping coordinate actions in all the major cities in Tennessee, including Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Memphis. The Knoxville speakers will call for an economy and a democracy that works for all people, not just billionaires and corporations, as well as ICE Out of our community. They will also emphasize the necessity of affordable housing and accessible public education over the interests of corporations and politicians. 

The coalition of organizations partnering on this event include Tennessee For All, United Campus Workers 3821, Knoxville-Oak Ridge Central Labor Council, Knoxville Workers Assembly, Knoxville Democratic Socialists of America, United Volunteers of Tennessee, Jobs with Justice East Tennessee, Indivisible Knoxville, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, Indivisible Sevierville, American Association of University Professors, and the National Writers Union.

All the partnering organizations hope the event will bring together workers, families, students, and community members in a shared call for justice, dignity, and economic fairness.

Tennessee For All is a coalition of community, labor, and faith organizations organizing to build a Tennessee that works for all of us, not just big corporations and a wealthy few.