Labor Day is not just a holiday marking the end of summer or Back to School. It was born from strikes, resistance, and the demands of workers – Black, brown, white, and immigrant — who stood shoulder to shoulder in the face of exploitation and refused to be silent.

With workers and unions facing unprecedented attacks from this administration and corporations, SEIU members are reclaiming this Labor Day for workers, launching Solidarity Season, a nationwide wave of action where SEIU members and allies demand care, dignity, and power for working families.

This year’s theme, Families First, Not Billionaires, makes our fight clear: We refuse to let billionaires slash care, scapegoat immigrants, raid public dollars, and divide working people for profit. With dozens actions planned across the country, we’re demanding:

• Healthcare for all: Reverse the Medicaid cuts. Make healthcare affordable for all. Denying healthcare is denying humanity.
• Wages with dignity: Force corporations to raise pay, stop exploitation, and give workers back what they’ve earned.
• Fully funded public services: Invest in schools, housing, Social Security, and public health—not in privatization, war, or incarceration.
• Dignity and safety for every community: End immigrant scapegoating, ICE profiteering, and the targeting of Black, Brown, Indigenous, trans, and working-class people.
• Power at work: Guarantee every worker the right to organize, bargain, and shape their future.
• Tax the billionaires: Workers have paid enough. It’s time the ultra-rich gave back what they’ve taken.

Labor Day marks a major inflection point in workers’ ongoing actions to build a brighter future. SEIU members have been courageously raising their voices throughout the year, from a Medicaid Week of Action to push back on the Big Ugly Bill to a cross-country Justice Journey to protest immigrant detentions to the Families First National Day of Action with allies across the progressive movement in July.

Contact media@seiu.org if you are interested in attending an SEIU Labor Day action near you or would like to speak to SEIU members or leaders. Dozens of events are happening across the country. A summary of the major actions – TOMORROW in Washington, DC; and on Monday, in Durham, NC; Minneapolis; San Diego; and Seattle – is included below.

SEIU Local Labor Day Actions

North Carolina – Duke University: Stand with Durham, Stand with Workers (Monday, September 1): This Labor Day’s theme is “Workers Over Billionaires,” and Durham is the anchor city. SEIU members, graduate workers, faculty, healthcare providers, and community allies will gather at Duke University to honor the workers who have built and sustained the campus and health system for more than a century. They will march to Amazon’s Durham site to connect the fight on campus to the fight against billionaire corporate power, including Jeff Bezos and other wealthy executives who profit while workers bear the burden. The action is a partnership with the AFL-CIO and other unions, showing broad solidarity. Speakers like Nah’Shon Blount, a third-shift housekeeper facing layoffs, and Luis, a longtime bus driver now facing deportation, will highlight what’s at stake for the most marginalized. The coalition is demanding that Duke stand up to federal attacks and invest in its people, raising wages to $25/hr, respecting unions, and supporting schools, housing, and services, while celebrating recent victories like the Duke Graduate Student Union’s first contract, faculty raises, and organizing wins for laundry and healthcare workers. Poet laureate Josephus Thompson III will perform.

Washington, DC – Workers Taking on Amazon and Corporate Power (Thursday, August 28):This Labor Day, the nation’s capital is ground zero for a fight against billionaires and anti-worker policies. As the Trump administration pushes an unprecedented attack on workplace and community freedoms, gutting the federal workforce and destabilizing our local economy - workers are rising up. SEIU members and allies, including hotel, restaurant, grocery, public sector, and education workers, will rally to demand fair pay, job security, and accountability, calling out Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and other corporations whose lucrative ICE contracts fuel inhumane detention and deportation. Kicking off Solidarity Season for DC, the rally will open with the DC Labor Chorus before a spirited, music-filled march from Dupont Circle to Logan Circle, sending a clear message: Washington, DC is no safe haven for corporate power, it’s time to put workers over billionaires.

Minneapolis – Workers Over Billionaires Rally at MSP Airport (Monday, September 1): SEIU Local 26 and a broad coalition, including flight attendants, Teamsters, UNITE HERE, and community groups, will lead a rally and picket at Minneapolis–Saint Paul (MSP) Airport’s Terminal 1 free speech area at noon. The action targets Delta Airlines and other corporations backing anti-worker and anti-democracy agendas, including support for Trump’s policies. Participants, airport service workers, rideshare drivers, and immigrant gig workers are demanding living wages, healthcare, dignity, and union rights. The rally draws on Minnesota’s labor legacy and the public’s memory of airport protests, calling out billionaires for hoarding wealth while workers struggle. It underscores that airports, built and maintained with public investment, must also invest in workers, not just in profits and tax breaks.

San Diego – County-Wide Workers Over Billionaires Actions (Monday, September 1): Across San Diego County, SEIU locals are anchoring multiple coordinated events, under the “Workers Over Billionaires” banner. From downtown to Chula Vista, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Carlsbad, and Escondido, members and allies are turning out to demand investment in schools, healthcare, housing, and climate action over corporate wealth. These actions highlight SEIU’s reach across diverse communities and show that working people: caregivers, educators, service and city workers are united in holding billionaires accountable and fighting for shared prosperity.

Seattle – March and Palantir Protest (Monday, September 1): Seattle will see SEIU Local 1199NW, SEIU 775, MLK Labor, Public School Employees of Washington, and community allies coming together for an action in front of Palantir’s corporate offices. The event will include chalking sidewalks and putting up signs, with strong messaging about tech and corporate billionaires benefiting from tax cuts while workers are left behind. This action ties concerns about surveillance and corporate profiteering to worker power, showing Seattle’s labor tradition in full force and linking local energy to the national “Workers Over Billionaires” frame.

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