Workers Shake Up May Day With Strikes and Walkouts, But Labor Leaders Hold Back Nationwide Fight

This year’s May Day unfolded amid a storm of crises: escalating authoritarianism under Trump, a fragile ceasefire in Iran, soaring gas prices fueling corporate profits, and ongoing assaults on voting rights and trans people. Despite a slowdown in mass ICE raids, the construction of massive detention centers and covert suburban raids continue, underscoring the persistent threat of state violence.

Against this backdrop, ordinary people are rising. The historic Minneapolis strike against ICE on January 23 sparked waves of protests and inspired labor leaders like Sarah Nelson (Association of Flight Attendants) and Greg Nammacher (SEIU Local 26) to call for a nationwide “No Work, No School, No Shopping” day on May Day. For the first time in two decades, the US saw work stoppages alongside massive street demonstrations.

Over 3,500 nationwide actions marked May Day, with significant strikes and sickouts in union and non-union workplaces. Coffee workers in Madison shut down stores, educators in North Carolina staged sickouts and rallied in Raleigh, and UNITE Here Local 17 hotel workers struck two Minneapolis hotels. Student walkouts at hundreds of schools and universities added to the momentum.

Crucially, the most militant actions were driven by rank-and-file workers rather than union leadership. In North Carolina, the NCAE mobilized thousands of educators to rally at the state capitol, emphasizing the history of breaking anti-strike laws to win victories. In Madison, grassroots organizing by union educators secured over 70% participation commitments, forcing the school district to close for May Day. Nearby Sun Prairie followed suit as educators called out sick in solidarity. Meanwhile, Madison coffee workers formed a coalition to shut down multiple cafes with the banner “ICE in Our Coffee, Not in Our Streets.”

These victories show what’s possible when workers organize from the bottom up. But the labor leadership’s reluctance to push for a full nationwide strike limited May Day’s impact. The cautious, hyper-local focus often failed to connect local struggles to the broader assault on workers and democracy under Trump.

Smaller but symbolic actions by groups like the Sunrise Movement, which blocked entrances to the New York Stock Exchange and San Francisco Airport, added to the day’s militant tone.

May Day 2026 was a modest but meaningful escalation in the anti-Trump struggle. It proved that militant, rank-and-file-led organizing can disrupt business as usual and challenge the billionaire class profiting from crisis and repression. The urgent question now is whether labor leadership will catch up or continue to hold back the fight that ordinary workers are ready to lead.