MINNEAPOLIS — May Day Strong, a coalition of labor and advocacy groups, is organizing a nationwide day of economic disruption on May 1, urging Americans not to shop, work or go to school. Organizers expect more than 3,500 rallies, marches and teach-ins across the country.

The coalition includes unions, Democratic Socialists of America chapters, Indivisible, and labor, racial justice, anti-war, pro-democracy, climate justice, immigrant rights and reproductive justice organizations. Actions will take place under banners including workers over billionaires, taxing the rich, demanding ICE out, money for people not wars, and expanding democracy.

"The labor movement in our country cannot advance while ignoring the assault on democracy," said Neidi Dominguez, founding executive director of Organized Power in Numbers and an executive team member of May Day Strong. "And the pro-democracy movement can't ask working people to defend abstract principles while they can't afford housing, paying bills or accessing healthcare."

The Chicago Teachers Union successfully fought to have May 1 declared a day of civic action in Chicago, and the National Education Association has posted a May Day planning guide on its website. The May Day Strong website has a searchable map for people to find actions and sign up to host events, and signing the May Day pledge connects participants to further information. Since 2024, the coalition has been hosting Solidarity School organizing trainings.

May Day Strong is not planning a general strike in 2026. Organizers have said it will take years to organize a full-on sustained general strike in the US, targeting 2028. In April 2024, United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain publicly called on all unions to align their contract expiration dates for May 1, 2028. Several major unions, including the Chicago Teachers Union, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Postal Workers Union, have pledged to join the 2028 general strike. The May Day Strong coalition is working to support that effort by giving non-union organizations a way to get their members ready.

"As working people, we must come together. We can no longer allow corporations, politicians and borders to divide us," Fain said. "The fact is: without workers, the world stops running. A successful general strike is going to take time, mass coordination, and a whole lot of work by the labor movement."

Eric Blanc, an assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, said: "Experience across the world suggests that it may take such an action – or at least the credible threat of one – to reverse authoritarianism in the US."

May Day, or International Workers' Day, was first celebrated in the US in 1886 when Lucy and Albert Parsons led 300,000 striking workers in Chicago on the first American May Day parade. May Day is an official holiday in 66 countries. In the US, May 1 is designated Loyalty Day, while Labor Day falls on the first Monday in September.