Support the Right to March in New York City

To Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

WE HAVE A RIGHT TO MARCH IN UNION SQUARE ON MAY DAY FOR A LIVING WAGE INSTEAD OF WAR!

DON'T GET IN THE WAY OF BRINGING BACK MAY DAY!

On behalf of the many organizations, and the hundreds of activists representing labor, the anti-war movement, as well as struggles for affordable housing, healthcare, the rights of immigrants, and the need for jobs and better wages and working conditions for the people of NYC that have been working for many months to organize the first major May Day rally and march in New York City in more than 25 years, we call upon you to permit those who gather in Union Square on Sunday, May 1 to march At our April 19 meeting with police officials, who have been aware of our plans for a considerable time, at the Manhattan South NYPD headquarters, organizers of the May Day march and rally representing the Million Worker March Movement and the Troops Out Now Coalition, who were expecting a routine meeting to work out march details, were stunned when they were informed that they would not be allowed to march at all, under any circumstances, anywhere on May Day because NYPD could not cover the march on that busy day.

Mayor Bloomberg, this excuse is a false one, and it is an insult to all who want to pay homage to the struggle of working people on this special day. Once again it appears that your instinct is to use the police as a weapon against the constitutional rights of marchers, especially if those marches don’t represent the interest of the wealthy and the privileged. Barring a change in the position of police officials on this matter, we are left with no other conclusion than that your administration is intent on suppressing the revival of May Day marches in NYC.

Since early fall 2004, plans have been underway to revive May Day marches in Union Square in 2005. For almost one hundred years the annual May Day march beginning in Union Square was one of the events that reflected the dynamism and uniqueness of New York City as a home of immigrants from all over the world and that bolstered and defined the city's working class. The great May Day marches starting in Union Square helped to put New York City in the forefront of the struggle for the 8-hour day, the right to belong to a trade union, and against inhumane and dangerous working conditions.

Today, the Union Square area is a place where tens of thousands of people go to work each day in retail stores, restaurants, and gourmet grocery markets. The average wage for a worker in the Union Square area is under $6.00 an hour and for many immigrant workers it is under the minimum wage. Health insurance, paid sick leave and vacations and the recognized rights to redress grievances with their employers are some of the things that most of the working people in the Union Square area, and across the city don’t have and desperately need. Addressing these problems is central to the reason why the May Day march is being revived in 2005. Drawing attention to the senselessness of massive amounts of money being spent on war while housing and education are being cut, and hospitals face closings is another reason why May Day marches are being revived.

Reviving May Day marches in Union Square is an important step towards reviving the worldwide movement for social and economic justice. That movement will be revived no matter what obstacles are put in its way. Mayor Bloomberg, don’t let a part of your legacy be standing in the way of the revival Mayday marches in NYC.

The Million Worker March Movement
NY Area The Troops Out Now Coalition

YES! I want to add my name to the letter to Mayor Bloomberg!