May Day in Pasadena Marked By Solidarity, Food Distribution and Campus Protest

At least three May Day actions were set to take place in Pasadena on Friday, marking the national “Workers Over Billionaires” day of action promoted by the May Day Strong campaign.

Across Pasadena Unified School District campuses, United Teachers of Pasadena planned a daylong show of solidarity from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The action, organized through the National Education Association, emphasized wages, staffing and school conditions.

“UTP is fighting for fair wages, health and welfare benefits, class size caps and dependable Special Ed services,” the organizer statement said.

At the Pasadena Community Job Center on North Lake Avenue, the Mano a Mano program scheduled a morning food-distribution volunteer shift from 8 a.m. to noon. Hosted by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the effort called on volunteers to help distribute “highly needed food baskets” and was also promoted through NDLON’s ICE Out campaign.

Pasadena City College was set to host a noon visibility action under the banner “FightBackFridays May Day Edition,” part of the weekly protest series held at Harbeson Hall. Organizers framed the gathering as a May Day observance and reiterated May Day Strong’s nonviolence guidance for participants.

The Pasadena Community Job Center also promoted a May Day-adjacent event, “Al Son del Pueblo,” scheduled for May 5 at Villa Parke and featuring Los Jornaleros del Norte. That event was not directly a part of the May 1 actions.

Regional coverage identified the largest Southern California May Day gathering as scheduled for in Los Angeles, where a 10 a.m. march was planned to begin at MacArthur Park, with additional events in Boyle Heights, Long Beach, Woodland Hills and Santa Clarita.