Thousands rally in Downtown LA on May Day for better wages, employee rights

Thousands of people made their voices heard Sunday in the May Day Coalition March, which is hosted by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. 

The march is an annual celebration and recognition of immigrant workers in this country. 

But in an everchanging world that is creating more financial stress and labor for many immigrant workers, a lot of them are marching for basic human rights.  

"We're not going to take no more pennies. We're going to be fighting until we get living wages for laundry workers," Maria Rivera of Workers United said.  

Among other professionals marching on Sunday included, teachers.

"We're asking higher wages," Betsy Ures of United Teachers Los Angeles said. "We should be able to live here and afford to live here and work here."

Though many of the organizers and participants in Sunday's march ranged from different types of professions and industries, they are all pulling from the same rope.

"Immigrant workers are essential workers, but they don't have real essential rights that they deserve," Angelica Salas, Executive Director of CHIRLA told CBSLA Reporter Jake Reiner. "It's time that immigrant workers - who have worked here in this country for over three decades without legal status that they finally be recognized."

As a result, they're calling on employers, federal, state and local officials to enact policies that offer better protection for these workers.

Ures told Reiner that if these demands are not met, a strike by the UTLA is not off the table.

"We don't even want to have to get there so as a UTLA member and DSALA (Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles) member we need to make sure everyone knows we have the power to influence our government and our work places, but only if we work together," Ures said.

The march also served as an opportunity to honor those workers who lost their lives this past year to the pandemic.