MANCHESTER, N.H. – International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, took place on Sunday this year. However, approximately two dozen activists gathered in front of City Hall one day after the holiday to advocate for workers’ rights.
During the rally, speakers voiced a sense of frustration with U.S. Representative Chris Pappas (D-NH-01), U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and President Joe Biden over their lack of action to support immigrant workers and their families, something they believed Pappas, Hassan and Biden campaigned on while campaigning.
“(Biden) promised one more time, as well as everyone else, that if they win, they’re going to pass some kind of relief for (immigrant) workers, and they have done nothing,” said event organizer Eva Castillo. “In fact, our delegation has turned against us. We are not political chips to be bargained away every time you think you’re in peril or that you’re losing an election.”
Castillo and other speakers such as New Hampshire State Representative Maria Perez (D-Nashua) said that Republicans are worse than Democrats on the issue, but being better by default is no longer good enough, with Perez voicing frustration over Democratic elected officials at the federal level refusing to meet with activists or respond to letters on the topic.
“How many times have we asked for their attention? But yeah, in November just wait, they’ll start calling you and asking you, ‘can you knock on doors for me, can you vote for me?’ I will say, ‘No, thank you,’” said Perez. “My community is tired of being nice. Yes, the other side is worse, but right now they are showing us, and I’m embarrassed to be a politician because we use humans just to get votes. It’s time to call them and call them out.”
In addition to other topics such as the rights of indigenous people and attacks on capitalism, several other speakers also advocated for better wages for all workers, not just immigrant workers.
Ian Scott, a member of the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth, shared accounts of how difficult it was to obtain fair wages for student workers such as himself. Others, including several members of the Manchester Board of School Committee, expressed support for raising the salaries of paraprofessional educators in the city.
Ward 3 Alderman Pat Long was also in attendance, joining with several speakers voicing support for his initiative to create a $15 an hour minimum wage for all city employees.
Long, who also represents Ward 3 (Hillsborough 10) as a Democratic state representative, did not mention any other elected officials, but did build upon Perez’ comment about being ashamed of being a politician.
Even though he has been a state representative for 16 years, Long didn’t see himself as a “career politician” since he has refunded the state his $100 annual salary every year. However, he did say that he believes his role as a politician is to provide everyone a voice and try to listen to everyone’s voice.
He urged those in attendance to vote and focus on candidates who try to listen to people and are engaged in their community instead of telling people who to vote for.
“What I tell (people) is look at your community and who volunteers. How do they volunteer? If they volunteer, they’re more apt to serve (the people) if they are elected. If they don’t volunteer, less so,” he said. “So, the people in your neighborhoods, the people in your community, you need to talk to them. You need to get people out to vote and you need to continue coming out to gatherings like this. People like you make my job easy, I don’t have the power, I didn’t wake up and get elected the next day with these (political) muscles, you did it. You’re the power. I have no power unless I have you, so thank you for showing up and let’s continue this fight.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPlE67NhuW4]
A Native American invocation to begin the rally.
