BY MATT KITE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 9/2/25 |
Hundreds in Tacoma celebrated Labor Day last Monday by exercising their First Amendment rights. Demonstrations at three different locations championed solidarity, justice, and democracy—each a core value of the labor movement, which has paved the way for advancements such as the eight-hour workday, child labor laws, and worker protections and benefits.
The first rally, Workers over Billionaires, took place late morning on the pedestrian overpass above I-5 near the 38th Street exit in Tacoma. At peak attendance, several dozen rallygoers waved to passersby, flew American flags, and displayed handmade signs.
Indivisible Tacoma co-chairs Ellen Floyd and Julie Andrzejewski explained the motivation behind the gathering. “People understand oligarchy,” Floyd said. “Most people driving through here understand that workers aren’t being treated well.”
For many in attendance, it was their first rally. Others were seasoned volunteers who work year-round for the community. Most shared a sense of urgency that people need to speak out now.
“Our government is being dismantled,” Andrzejewski said, “and workers are being fired from every sector. They’re not political positions. They’re science and data and so forth, and they’re being fired because they won’t do something that is unethical.”
Added Floyd: “It’s almost every federal department. The less glamorous departments, like FDIC, FEMA, NOAA—all of these agencies are being chipped away at if not dismantled. It will hit a lot of people in a lot of ways, but we’re trying to get the awareness out now.”
Across town, just as the overpass rally was ending at noon, another demonstration began near the entrance to Point Defiance Park. An estimated crowd of 300 people—most of them holding creative and sometimes humorous signs—lined Pearl Street on both sides. They brought children, dogs, lawn chairs, and various props.
The event came together courtesy of Grit City Community Collective, a local organization formed in April. Ferrygoers and those entering and leaving the park honked their horns and waved from their vehicles in solidarity.
“This is our sixth rally at this location,” a spokesperson for Grit City CC explained. “The voice of the people and the workers is what makes the economy go ’round. Billionaires shouldn’t be telling the people what they can and cannot do. Billionaires shouldn’t be telling people what they can and cannot say. So this rally is to give voice to people who want to have their voices heard and who support labor. We’ll keep doing this until it’s no longer needed, and the people will tell us when it’s no longer needed.”
Meanwhile, across the Murray Morgan Bridge, a group at least twice as large gathered in the afternoon outside ICE’s Tacoma Northwest Detention Center on the port’s tide flats to protest the treatment of immigrants. Coordinated by several grassroots organizations—including the Tanggol Migrante Movement, International Migrants Alliance, and Families of Filipinos in Detention (FFIND)—the rally drew a diverse crowd of several hundred. Bilingual speakers delivered passionate speeches from a makeshift stage while yellow- and orange-vested volunteers supervised the energetic crowd.
“Migrants right now are being scapegoated and discriminated against regardless of status,” said Kami Y., media liaison for the Tanggol Migrante Movement. “This mobilization here today is meant to call awareness to some of the issues migrants are facing but also to show the strength in coming together as migrant workers, as migrant communities. We’re out here to show our strength and our unity, to show that enough is enough. We’re not going to be these quiet, docile migrants that [the Trump administration] wants us to be.”
The Labor Day gathering reinforced the historical connection between hardworking immigrants and the American experience.
“Migrant workers are the people who keep this country operating,” Kami said. “We’re the ones who raise our food, keep businesses running, hotels—all these crucial institutions that, without migrant communities, are going to be in shambles. And I think this administration doesn’t really see that. An attack on one migrant community is an attack on all migrant communities. So we’re here today to stand in solidarity with one another and say we’re not going to take it anymore. For our brothers and sisters who are being unjustly detained in the detention center, we want to show them that we’re here and we’ll continue to fight for their release.”
Detainees likely drew sustenance from the sounds of full-throated speakers, thundering drums, and raucous cheers reverberating just outside the detention center’s walls. To find out about future events, visit Indivisibletacoma.net, gritcitycc.com, or @tanggolmigrantemovement on Instagram.
