Protesters rally in honor of May Day and International Workers' Day

Nerexda Soto says she was one of the Long Beach hotel workers who was harassed in the workplace. Her assaulter showed up day after day making demeaning comments and refusing to leave her alone. However, she used her voice to spark a movement.
During a May Day rally in honor of International Workers’ Day on May 1 at Cesar Chavez Park, Soto spoke about a disturbing perception that some hotel guests have.
“When people are paying high prices, or even low prices, to stay somewhere,” Soto said, “they think they own you too as a worker.”
Soto said that, after that repeated abuse, she spoke out and found she was not the only one enduring assault in the workplace. She began marching with housekeepers protesting for a safe work environment.
“Unfortunately,” Soto said, “since our fight went up to September of last year, our city council voted down our proposal for panic buttons in the workplace. Seeing so many women come up and give their testimony of their experiences with sexual harassment and assault in the workplace here in Long Beach, and they still have the audacity to say it’s not happening. But, our fight does not stop there. […] We don’t give up. We don’t stop.”
Cynthia Macias of Housing Long Beach explained that the May Day Long Beach Coalition represents 19 diverse community organizations and was the group that orchestrated the march.
“We are here to march for all Long Beach workers and all oppressed communities,” Macias said. “Right now, today and tomorrow, we will continue to rise up, resist and reclaim our power.”
May Day, or International Workers Day, came about in the 19th century, and Alex Montances, youth organizer with the Filipino Migrant Center, said that workers protested for the eight-hour workday, higher wages, safer work conditions and an end to child labor.
“Today in Long Beach and throughout the United States, workers are still struggling for a living wage, good benefits, the right to unionize, and dignity and respect in the workplace,” Montances said. “Even Long Beach hotel workers are fighting for city council to pass Claudia’s Law to protect them from sexual harassment, while undocumented workers are calling for Long Beach to become a Sanctuary City to protect them and keep families together. Other workers can’t even afford rent and would love to see rent control passed in the city. Many working families in Long Beach cannot send their children to college, and their schools are grossly underfunded, but we wonder why the U.S. still has funding for military spending and war in Syria, Korea, Israel.”
The current administration, Macias said, is not helping either.
“Workers all around the world are now fighting for a much larger enemy— the growing racists, sexists, the xenophobic, homophobic, the anti-people policies of the Trump Administration and other governments around the world,” Macias said.
Soto then stated, “We refuse to stand with him. We will never be with him.”
The kick-off program ended with a moment of silence before the protesters filled the streets and rallied in front of City Hall.
“As the May Day Coalition,” Macias said, “we affirm the role of oppressed communities, of colored, to be at the front of all struggles for economic and social justice, and unapologetically declare that this is our land and recognize that when the most oppressed and marginalized are liberated, we will all be free.”