May Day March gains new momentum after passage of SB1070
Worldwide, May 1 is celebrated as International Workers’ Day. Originally, the workers’ holiday commemorated the struggle for an eight-hour work day in 1856 and later, marked the anniversary of the Haymarket affair in 1886. The Haymarket affair, also know as the Haymarket massacre, began as a rally in support of striking workers and ended in violence with the deaths of workers and police.
In Tucson, the May Day March not only promotes workers’ rights, a living wage, and fair workplace practices but also the rights for other oppressed people, including immigrants.
Immigrant workers–legal and illegal–often work under substandard conditions in the fields, factories, and kitchens of America. It’s understandable that their struggle would become part of this demonstration of worker solidarity. After the passage of the anti-illegal immigrant bill SB1070, this year’s May Day March will most likely be large and boisterous.
The May Day March will begin Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at El Casino Ballroom and end with a rally at 11 a.m. in Armory Park. For details, check the Derechos Humanos website.
This article originally appeared in my Progressive Examiner column.
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Occupy encampment in Armory Park– before it was cleared out in the middle of the night by Tucson Police.
The Living Economy event was very informative; we had a great time hob-nobbing. My husband Jim is a small business owner and a member of Local First Arizona. I have owned two small businesses in the past– Powers/Queen Associates and Wind Dancer Design. We support Local First Arizona and buying/investing locally. We believe that supporting local small businesses with low-interest loans through a public/private partnership between a public bank and community banks and credit unions is the sustainable route to improving our local economy. Trickle down economics doesn’t work; it’s time for new ideas.
Martin Luther King, Jr. march.
I have a background in research. Help me build Tucson’s tech industry and grow our own local businesses.
Despite the sweltering heat, Jim and I had a great time at the Labor Day Picnic. We collected a lot of Clean Elections $5 donations and signatures. Here I am with LD9 chair Michael Dues.
There have been many lively debates in the Arizona House in 2018. This team of House Democrats fought for consumer protections and fought against risky financial deals in a “regulatory sandbox.” (Pictured are Reps. Mitzi Epstein, Kelli Butler, Athena Salman, Pamela Powers Hannley, Ken Clark and Isela Blanc.)
Protesting anti-woman laws at the Arizona state capitol.
Visiting with PALF chairman Fred Yamashita at the 2016 Labor Day Picnic.
Jobs with Justice marching with Occupy Tucson in support of postal workers.
Giving the LD9 update at the June meeting. What a great crowd!
Safe Park, downtown Tucson
The Oberlin Rescuers outside of the Cuyahoga County Jail.
John Nichols of ‘The Nation’ addressed progressives and unionists at a Tucson event.
Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley with members of the Tucson Chapter of NOW on opening day at the Arizona Legislature, 2018.
Protesting cuts to education
Arizonans for New Economy co-directors Jim Hannley and Pamela Powers Hannley with UA Tech Park VP Bruce Wright.
Congressman Ron Barber and Pamela Powers Hannley at Cyclovia
A homeless man sleeps in the shadow of corporate America.
Protesting migrant deaths in the Arizona desert.
Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales and I were interviewed by NBC at the Phoenix rally.
#RedForEd teachers and supporters in the Arizona House Gallery, 2018.
Governor Ducey had proposed increasing prison beds and funding, while cutting education. Protesters took issue with that short-sighted idea.
PDA Tucson Coordinator Jim Hannley speaks against both the crowd management ordinance and the urban camping ban at the City Council meeting.
We are the 99%.
A giant poet’s head made up of stainless steel letters marks the stop near the UA Poetry Center.
It was truly a honor to meet Nevada State Senator Patricia Spearman (center) in October and to confer with her regarding our efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Arizona. Spearman led the successful Nevada efforts to ratify the ERA in 2017. Here we are with activist and NOW leader Dainne Post after the ERA workshop at the We the People Conference in Phoenix. There are a lot of Arizona women who are ready to make history in 2018. Watch my blog here and my Facebook page here for ERA updates.
Protesters hand deliver symbolic big check from corporate American to McCain.
We often hear that corporations need migrant workers because Americans “don’t want to do these jobs.” When I hear this statement, I picture farm workers picking vegetables. Recently, I toured two dairies and an animal feed packing plant in Pinal County. The photo above from the Zinke Dairy shows a giant cow milking carousel. Nine migrant workers milk 4000 cows three times a day at this dairy. Legislators watched the two men pictured here– working at a brisk pace– bend over and pick up, lift, and attach large electronic suction cups to the cows as they ride the carousel around the giant facility. This level of automation is the wave of the future for industrial jobs.
PDA members, including Advisory Board Chair Mimi Kennedy, protested food stamp cuts in front of Congressman Henry Waxman’s office.
In the 1980s, the Tucson Weekly called Tucson the “Baked Apple”.
Desconocido (unknown)
Pamela Powers Hannley, Progressive Democrat for Arizona House, LD9
This is a broken sink in the Ladies’ Room at the Arizona State Building in downtown Tucson. One of the elevators also was broken. It’s time to fix Arizona government.
Jim and I were part of a contingent of Unitarian Universalists who came up from Tucson. Here I am with Rev. Ron Phares from the Mountain Vista UU Church in my district. (Jim is photobombing us.)
Ironically, I posted this blog post on the anniversary of this election on June 19. 1970ish.
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