| Since New York’s traditional Labor Day parade was cancelled this year, NY activists have dubbed this September 4 “Labor Day for Union Rights and No Evictions,” calling a workers assembly at Union Square, across from Amazon-owned Whole Foods, to demand union rights for Amazon workers, passage of the PRO Act and a permanent eviction moratorium.
To address the housing crisis, the event will start at 4:00 pm with tenants’ rights activists distributing pamphlets, making speeches and answering questions about how to access eviction protection. The workers assembly will start at 5:00 pm, with a 6:00 pm march scheduled which will head to the offices of a nearby slumlord evictor.
“The fight to organize the unorganized goes hand-in-hand with the fight against evictions,” said Chris Smalls, leader of the union drive in Staten Island, who will attend the “Labor Day” event Saturday along with other leaders of the Staten Island Amazon union drive. “Here in Staten Island, some Amazon workers are unhoused. Some have been sleeping in their cars in the Amazon parking lot.”
The September 4 action was called by Workers Assembly Against Racism (WAAR), who this winter organized a series of New York demonstrations—in Harlem, in Union Square, and outside Jeff Bezos’ penthouse—supporting the Amazon union drive in Bessemer, Alabama.
Organizers emphasize that, as a day dedicated to workers rights, this Saturday’s Union Square rally will also call for an extension of federal unemployment benefits, which are set to expire Monday September 6, but in reality expire on September 4—since Monday is a holiday. |
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