![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Bhfswv1N.jpg\" "\\"Labor")
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San Jose, CA \u2013 On September 7, around 150 workers and their allies gathered at San Jose City Hall for a Labor Day rally and march. Organized by the San Jose May Day Coalition, the theme of the action was \u201cLabor Fights Back,\u201d and the program highlighted local unions that are waging ongoing campaigns and contract negotiations.<\/p>\n
Unions represented at the protest included the Santa Clara County Association of County Educators (ACE), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 21, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Locals 2015, 1021, and 521, and the South Bay Labor Council which represents over 110 different unions.<\/p>\n
The program was emceed by Megan Sweet, rank-and-file member of ATU 265, and Riju Krishna, president of ACE.<\/p>\n
Jean Cohen, Executive director of the South Bay Labor Council, stated, \u201cRight now in the South Bay, in the Bay Area, in California, billionaires are taking over. And we\u2019re not going to let them, because the blood of the labor movement is organizing.\u201d Cohen continued, \u201cThere\u2019s more than enough to pay people a decent wage, to ensure that we have a seat at the table to talk about AI and the future of work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s ATU or the Teamsters or the teachers or the nurses,\u201d Cohen continued, \u201cour fight is righteous and our fight is going to be what makes San Jose and Silicon Valley where anybody can live.\u201d<\/p>\n
IFPTE Local 21 is in a union coalition with AFSCME Local 101, representing over 4500 San Jose City workers. This coalition has been bargaining with the city since February and working without a contract for over two months. Krista de la Torre of IFPTE Local 21 stated, \u201cWhen the city doesn\u2019t adequately invest in its workforce, it impacts more than just the workers, it impacts the residents, it impacts the services our entire community depends on.\u201d<\/p>\n
De la Torrie continued, \u201cAt the bargaining table right now we are fighting for strong AI guardrails that project jobs and ensure human oversight of public services. We\u2019re fighting for sound retirement benefits and protections against privatization and contracting out, because public services should remain public, accountable, and affordable to all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA few weeks ago, our coalition of 4500 city workers held a strike authorization vote, and an overwhelming 97% voted yes,\u201d continued de la Torre. \u201cAs we continue fighting for a fair contract, we are asking for our community to stand behind us. Because our working conditions are your service conditions, and our fight to protect public jobs is a fight to protect public services.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riju Krishna, president of ACE, stated, \u201cWe are fighting for more than a paycheck \u2013 we are fighting for dignity, for respect, for safe workplaces, and most importantly, the right to raise our families with hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krishna continued, \u201cWhen they try to divide us by our jobs, our language, our race, our immigration status, or where we come from, what do we do? We stand closer together, because an injury to one is an injury to all!\u201d<\/p>\n
After the program, the crowd marched through the streets of downtown San Jose, holding signs saying, \u201cWe support city workers,\u201d \u201cUnion strong,\u201d and \u201cFight for workers\u2019 and immigrants\u2019 rights.\u201d As passing cars honked in solidarity, protesters chanted, \u201cWhen workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!\u201d and \u201cWorker power!\u201d<\/p>\n
As the action closed, the emcees encouraged attendees to join the San Jose May Day Coalition to get involved in organizing future labor movement protests.<\/p>\n
#SanJoseCA<\/a> #CA<\/a> #Labor<\/a> #LaborDay<\/a> #SEIU<\/a> #ATU<\/a> #IFPTE<\/a> #AFSCME<\/a> #Teamsters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose, CA \u2013 On September 7, around 150 workers and their allies gathered at San Jose City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-458749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}