Press Release: Boulder DSA International Workers’ Day Rally

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MAY 4, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Photo Courtesy of Boulder DSA, taken on Labor Day 2025

Boulder County workers, unions, and community allies celebrate International Workers’ Day with downtown rally

Around 100 local residents gathered at the Glen Huntington Bandshell to demand fair wages, immigrant protections, renewed labor power, and more

BOULDER, Colo. — Dozens of Boulder County residents turned out Friday afternoon at the Glen Huntington Bandshell to mark International Workers’ Day, rallying alongside local union members, elected officials, and community organizers in a demonstration that covered local policy fights, labor history, and a collective call to action.

Organized by Boulder County Democratic Socialists of America in coalition with the Boulder Area Labor Council, Boulder Valley Education Association, the National Education Association and local Indivisible organizers, the May Day rally drew attendees, many carrying hand-lettered signs — “The Rich Profit from Worker Poverty,” “Educators are Workers / Solidarity Forever,” “Defund War, ICE / Tax the Rich” — and marching under Boulder DSA’s banner: “Labor is Entitled to All It Creates.”

“Workers in this county are being nickel and dimed while the people in power making those decisions count on us staying home and staying quiet,” said Alejandra Beatty, president of the Boulder Area Labor Council. “They’re cutting wages for people who serve their food and drinks and letting farmworkers labor through heat and exhaustion without the overtime protections that many other workers take for granted. Even more insidiously, they’re using immigration enforcement as a weapon to keep workers too scared to organize. Yet still, people showed up to fight back.”

Several speakers covered ground that was deeply local and deliberately global. Andy Greer and Sam Whitaker of United Campus Workers Colorado spoke about the ongoing unionization effort at the University of Colorado and the longer strategic horizon of building toward a general strike. Mary Henry and David Stewart of the Boulder Valley Education Association addressed the precarious funding landscape facing public school staff. Courtney Keeler of Starbucks Workers United spoke about the particular burdens carried by women and workers of color inside the labor movement. Kathryn Lehman of the Boulder County Employees Union addressed the Boulder County Commissioners refusing to provide more protections for immigrant workers in Boulder before leading chants of “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido (the people united will never be defeated).”

Former Boulder Mayor Pro Tem Lauren Folkerts rounded out the worker-focused portion of the program with remarks on local labor rights before state Sen. Jessie Danielson took the stage to speak about the Colorado Worker Protection Act.

Two pieces of state and local legislation loomed large over the afternoon’s conversations. The proposed rollback of the tipped minimum wage credit, which would cut take-home pay for some of Colorado’s lowest-wage workers, drew repeated condemnation from speakers. So did the recently passed farmworker overtime bill, which reduces minimum overtime wages for agricultural workers in Colorado, who have been excluded from labor law for generations.

“These are fights against the same systems that prioritize profit over people, extraction over sustainability, and short-term gain over long-term survival,” said Folkerts during her speech. “The same forces that exploit workers here are exploiting workers around the world. The same systems driving climate change are tied directly to systems of extraction, militarization, and control.”

The program gave way to a practice picket, with attendees circling the bandshell and surrounding park areas, chanting “Worker power,” a low-stakes rehearsal for the kind of collective action organizers say they intend to escalate.

Residents interested in getting involved can learn more and connect with ongoing campaigns at boulderdsa.org, BALC at tinyurl.com/boulderareaunions, and BVEA on Facebook at facebook.com/BoulderValleyEA.

About Boulder County Democratic Socialists of America

Boulder County DSA is a local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States. Boulder County DSA organizes in Boulder and Broomfield counties around labor rights, housing, health care, immigration justice, anti-imperialism, the environment, and democratic accountability.

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