The park has been the site of the past three No Kings marches<\/a> hosted by QSNK.\n<\/p>\n \u201cMacdonald Park is becoming our Union Square, or our Washington Square, here in Queens,\u201d said Ruth Gursky, the chapter leader of the Beacon in Forest Hills.<\/p>\n Gursky, who joined the nonpartisan interfaith nonprofit in January 2025 after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, said she was inspired to fight against authoritarianism and fascism in the wake of his second term.<\/p>\n Led by the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi, Gursky said nonviolent resistance is a crucial part of the Beacon\u2019s mission, which partners with community organizations for a variety of causes.<\/p>\n For May Day, Gursky said she went up and down the shops on Austin Street asking businesses if they were willing to close even for an hour on Friday to observe the holiday.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I know local mom and pop shops can\u2019t close all day,\u201d she said. \u201cBut if they could close for one hour, that would be very powerful.\u201d\n<\/p>\n When Gursky thinks about the labor movement in the U.S., she thinks of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire<\/a> that occurred in Greenwich Village over 100 years ago.<\/p>\n The factory employed over 500 workers that were primarily Jewish and Italian immigrant women between the ages of 13 and 23. They worked 52 hours per week, locked in rooms on the 8th, 9th and 10th floors of the building to prevent them from taking unauthorized breaks.<\/p>\n When the building caught fire in 1911, workers were trapped as the flames spread. Some even jumped out of windows, desperate to escape the fire and smoke.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n A total of 146 workers died \u2014 123 of which were women.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWomen burned to death, and some jumped out of windows to save themselves,\u201d Gursky said. \u201cIt really was a tragedy of epic proportions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The disaster prompted a labor movement that not only helped pass legislation requiring safety standards in buildings, but it improved the working conditions in sweat shops through union organization and collective bargaining.<\/p>\n Without the workers, Gursky pointed out, the country couldn\u2019t survive. Whether it\u2019s the nurses working in hospitals, or engineers and conductors working on the railroad, she said the world needs them and must respect them.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether you believe in the union movement or not, unions created the holidays we\u2019re all used to enjoying,\u201d she continued. \u201cUnions created the five day, 40-hour work week. I believe in the union movement because I believe that everybody should have a safe place to work.\u201d<\/p>\n She also encouraged anyone interested in joining the Beacon to join them at the park every Thursday evening from 7 to 7:30 p.m. to hold signs and advocate for their rights.<\/p>\n Alyce Wittenstein, a longtime activist in the community, said the May Day event is a spin-off of May Day Strong<\/a>, a national network of organizations aimed at standing together against the billionaires waging a war on working people.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said the group began organizing community events, which it calls \u201cstrike picnics.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so important to connect with the community,\u201d she emphasized. \u201cMay Day is not as popular in the United States as it is in other countries.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Wittenstein pointed out that the U.S. instead celebrates Labor Day, which she said was established to \u201cdefuse\u201d the labor movement. \u201cThe system in the United States is rigged against workers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n According to the history of May Day outlined by the Economic Policy Institute<\/a>, Labor Day was created by President Grover Cleveland in order to satiate labor unions in the aftermath of the deadly Pullman Strike.<\/p>\n The strike, which took place in 1894, occurred after the railroad workers\u2019 wages were cut by 30%.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile, rents in the company town \u2014 which were controlled by the Pullman Company headed by millionaire George Pullman \u2014 remained the same.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n During the strike, over 30 workers were murdered by federal troops sent by Cleveland, marking one of the most violent and deadliest labor disputes in U.S. history.<\/p>\n Out of fear of what Cleveland saw as radical ties May Day had to communist countries, he created Labor Day in early September to appease workers in the labor movement.<\/p>\n However, Wittenstein said the labor movement can be thanked for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency under the Department of Labor that ensures safe working conditions by setting and enforcing standards in the workplace.<\/p>\n She said she still fights for these rights today because she is worried that the Trump Administration would strip away these protections and further weaken the strength of unions in a country that already exploits its workers.<\/p>\n Trump recently terminated the right to collectively bargain<\/a> for over one million federal workers, citing a \u201cnational security\u201d provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.<\/p>\n He also signed several executive orders that terminated existing labor contracts for these federal workers which shortened parental leave, removed guaranteed rest periods and gutted union resources.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re erasing all of our workers\u2019 rights accomplishments,\u201d Wittenstein stressed. \u201cWe have to be vigilant and make sure that we stop it here and start climbing uphill again. The war isn\u2019t over.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of work to be done for labor today, she said, pointing out that many people are struggling to find jobs that pay a living wage.\n<\/p>\n Steven Stringer, who attended the May Day event on Friday and has long been a member of QSNK, emphasized how damaging Trump has been not only in repealing workers\u2019 rights, but the rights of immigrants who helped build the country in the first place.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I haven\u2019t protested since the Vietnam War,\u201d Stringer said. \u201cNow I\u2019m 72-years-old, protesting again. I didn\u2019t expect it to be like this \u2014 but idiots voted for Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n Stringer noted the power dynamic of labor in the U.S., pointing out that \u201coligarchs\u201d simply use workers for labor with no regard for their health.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do you think Trump loves \u2018beautiful coal?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cDo you think he thinks about all the young men that are going to get black lung? Oligarchs don\u2019t care about that \u2014 they just use them and throw them away.\u201d<\/p>\n Stringer likened the attitudes of those in power to those that enlisted Chinese slave labor to build the railroads and then banned them from entering the country for 10 years through the Chinese Exclusion Act.<\/p>\n He also pointed to the country\u2019s treatment of its indigenous people, exploiting them for their land and resources and then committing a genocide against them.<\/p>\n \u201cWhite people suck,\u201d Stringer said, rolling his eyes. \u201cThey ruin the f\u2014ing planet.\u201d\n<\/p>\n That\u2019s why, he continued, it\u2019s important for people to stand up and fight for workers\u2019 rights.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Not only can we thank the workers \u2014 who have historically been immigrants \u2014 for building the country, he said, but they have improved the working conditions for everyone else.<\/p>\n Stringer said we can thank workers for making all the everyday commodities people take for granted without a second thought. \u201cPeople buy their stuff and don\u2019t think about how it got there,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n These days, Stringer said a lot needs to be done to address the workers\u2019 plight in the U.S.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n For one thing, he said he believes the country must unlink health care from the work place so workers are not fearful of losing care if they are fired or laid off.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still under the thumbs of the oligarchs, and we hardly have a say about it,\u201d Stringer said. \u201cIt\u2019s the plight of the workers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n To learn more about events hosted by QSNK, visit Mobilize.us<\/a>, QueensSaysNoKings.com<\/a>, or the QSNK YouTube<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or Instagram<\/a> pages.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_3340.jpeg\")
Ruth Gursky, the chapter leader of the Beacon in Forest Hills, said we can thank unions for the 5-day, 40-hour work week.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_3357.jpeg\")
Attendees of the May Day event made signs in support of workers\u2019 rights and called for a general strike to demonstrate the power of labor.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_3361.jpeg\")
Steven Stringer, a longtime member of QSNK, said workers\u2019 rights still have a long way to go in the United States.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_3353.jpeg\")
A protester makes a sign calling for a general strike for May Day last Friday.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo
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An attendee of the May Day event pointed to a sign she made that was displayed during the event.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo
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An attendee makes a sign that says \u201cTax the Rich\u201d during the May Day event.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo
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