02-05-2025
May Day rallies across Maine celebrate labor rights amid federal backlash
Nate Bantan plays euphonium with the Ideal Maine Band during a May Day march in Portland, Maine on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
Labor unions' annual May Day celebrations took on new urgency this year as workers rallied across Maine on Thursday to mark International Worker's Day and protest the anti-labor actions of the Trump administration.
In Portland, a march organized by a coalition of unions, community and leftist political groups briefly stopped traffic on Forest Ave. as the crowd progressed from the University of Southern Maine through the city, culminating with a crowd of roughly 1,000 in Congress Square.
Scott Adams, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 458, addressed those gathered outside the post office. He said that President Donald Trump and billionaire advisor Elon Musk want to privatize the U.S. Postal Service.
'We will lose everything we won in the past if we don't fight in the present,' he said.
Other speakers highlighted local labor fights. Stephen Bennett of the University of Maine Graduate Workers Union pointed out that they'd been negotiating their first contracts for more than 500 days.
'Why does the University of Maine System refuse to acknowledge that our work is valuable?' Bennett asked.
Demonstrators make their way up Forest Avenue during a May Day march in Portland, Maine on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Starting at the University of Southern Maine campus, the pro-union, pro-Palestinian and anti-Trump protestors made stops at the city's main post office and Portland High School before rallying in Congress Square. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
May Day protestors gather in Portland, Maine's Congress Square on Thursday, May 1, 2025. A coalition of left wing organizations came together for the 1,000-person strong demonstration. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
May Day protestors gather in Portland, Maine's Congress Square on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
A woman waves a sign during a May Day march in Portland, Maine on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Starting at the University of Southern Maine campus, the pro-union, pro-Palestinian and anti-Trump protestors made stops at the city's main post office and Portland High School before rallying in Congress Square. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
May Day protestors gather in Portland, Maine's Congress Square on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
May Day protestors gather in Portland, Maine's Congress Square on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
May Day protestors gather in Portland, Maine's Congress Square on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Troy R. Bennett/ Maine Morning Star)
The graduate workers and their supporters, including the Maine Education Association and Eastern Maine Labor Council, also held a march and rally in Orono. Other events were organized in Bridgeton, Bath, Augusta, Waterville, Auburn and York.
On Wednesday, national AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler participated in a listening session with Maine workers that have been impacted by the actions of the Trump administration, including a recent executive order that ended collective bargaining rights for federal unions.
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