SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Numerous rallies are taking place around San Diego County Thursday to mark International Workers' Day, also known as May Day.
Some of the notable events happening on Thursday:
University of California health care workers strike
8 a.m.-10 a.m.: Workers picket at UC San Diego Medical Center (200 W. Arbor Dr.)
10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.: Participants march to Balboa Park for a rally at 6th Ave. & Laurel St.
— Thousands of University of California health care, research and technical workers will stage a one-day strike at UC facilities across the state, including in San Diego. Their union, University Professional and Technical Workers, says the action is in response to a systemwide hiring freeze imposed by the UC in March, a move the union contends is exacerbating a staffing crisis in the system. The UPTE has been engaged in contract talks with the university, and the union staged a three-day statewide strike in February.
San Diego Education Association rally
8 a.m. event at Lincoln High School (4777 Imperial Ave.)
— Educators and community members gathering for a rally in support of ongoing contract negotiations. The SDEA represents over 6,500 educators in the San Diego Unified School District.
El Cajon National Day of Action
11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at corner of Magnolia Ave. & Fletcher Pkwy.
— Demonstrators will rally against the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, weeks after a federal raid at a business in unincorporated El Cajon.
Rally for Working People/Defend our San Diego communities
4:30 p.m.: Chicano Park (1949 Logan Ave.)
5:20 p.m.: Participants march
— The Community Self Defense Coalition is holding an event calling for the end of deportations and for the country to prioritize helping its working families.
Rally for Worker & Immigrant Rights
6 p.m.: San Diego Waterfront Park (1600 Pacific Highway)
— Multiple organizations are staging an event in support migrants, workers, and those who defend them.
International Workers' Day is recognized in many countries around the world, with its origins dating back to the 1880s and initially supporting the establishment of an eight-hour workday.
In the United States, the May 1 date was chosen to commemorate a general strike that began on the date in 1886 and ended with the Haymarket affair of May 4, 1886, when a peaceful rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square in support of workers ended with an unknown person throwing a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the meeting.
Eleven people were killed and nearly 200 others injured.
City News Service contributed to this report.
