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IAM delegates attending the IAM Women’s and Young Workers Conference recently joined labor and community allies for a Workers vs. Billionaires march and rally through downtown Chicago, organized by the IAM’s Department of Rapid Response and Mobilization.
Over 500 Delegates and coalition partners marched from the Palmer House Hilton to Congress Plaza Garden for a rally emceed by IAM Young Workers and Women’s Director Dee Colbert. The labor leaders who spoke during the rally included:
IAM members stood in solidarity with Unite Here Local 1 members fighting to secure a strong contract. The action reinforced the conference’s message that developing new leaders must go hand in hand with mobilizing members and standing with workers in their struggles for dignity, respect, and economic justice. IAM delegates from across the country served as parade marshals.
The rally also celebrated a landmark victory, giving approximately 100,000 Illinois rideshare drivers a pathway to elect union representation through the IAM and SEIU Local 1 and bargain collectively for higher wages, improved benefits, stronger safety protections, and fairer working conditions.
Led by IAM International President Brian Bryant and other labor and community leaders, the speakers delivered a clear message: working people are ready to stand together against corporate greed and organize for an economy that works for everyone.
“Working people across America are suffering profoundly right now as corporate greed skyrockets and billionaires buy access to bend the rules against us,” said IAM Union International President Brian Bryant. “The U.S. economy is being rigged against everyday people by robber baron tycoons and elites, creating an existential threat to our core American values of democracy, fairness, and freedom. American communities are being bled dry by billionaires who pit working people against each other, dividing us with artificial social fault lines so they can swindle us with economic injustice. The IAM Union will not stand back as basic worker protections are dismantled in this country. Instead, we’re launching our most aggressive election program yet, because the stakes are too high not to take unprecedented action.”
The rally was one of a growing number of Workers vs. Billionaires actions coordinated by IAM’s Department of Rapid Response and Mobilization, which helps build coalitions and turns out members for fights like this one across North America.
