On Labor Day, Sept. 1, hundreds of community members gathered in support of workers’ rights at the “Workers Over Billionaires” rally in front of San José City Hall.

The multi-issue rally which demanded “no cuts, no raids, no wars” was one of some 1,000 Labor Day mobilizations led by the AFL-CIO and other organizations nationwide, according to a Sept. 1 article by NBC News.

Labor Day is a federal holiday that recognizes the “social and economic achievements of American workers,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor. 

Among the speakers and attendees at San José were members of the Alphabet Workers Union, Stanford Graduate Workers Union, and Service Employees International Union. 

Elena Robles, an employment counselor and volunteer dance instructor at El Grito de la Cultura Academy, said she was happy to see so many young people turn out to the protest.
“I do enjoy seeing the passion now that is taking off,” Robles said. It’s encouraging … because then you don’t sit powerless, watching all the horror that’s happening to our community and to those who are least able to protect themselves.”

She said performing at events like these helps her students feel a sense of confidence and agency amidst fears of deportation and raids.

John Duroyan, president of Students for a Democratic Society at SJSU and history graduate student, feels students have a stake in their university administration and federal government’s policies.

“We don’t want, as students, to be complicit in Trump’s war. We see Cynthia (Teniente-)Matson, the president of SJSU, is kind of complicit through her inaction and through having these ties with Lockheed Martin,” Duroyan said. “Lockheed Martin, Trump – they’re in the same boat of war profiteers and reactionaries.”

Lockheed Martin supplies the Israeli military with weapons and military equipment that are deployed on civilians in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, according to a Statista website.

Duroyan said the organization has been pushing the university to disclose its financial ties with the defense manufacturer since 2024. However the university’s promises to disclose their investments in the company have since fallen through. 

Now, SDS is campaigning to bar Lockheed Martin from SJSU’s Career Fairs.
Lockheed Martin is listed as a participating employer on SJSU’s Handshake page for Day 2 of its Fall ‘25 STEM Undergraduate Students Job/Internship Fair, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

Daniel Torres, community organizer and former rank-and-file member of SEIU, said he enjoyed seeing the diverse industries of Silicon Valley – especially those newer to organizing

“Even though it was a hot day, people still came out and showed their discontent for the things happening in our communities,” Torres said. “It gives me hope that we’re on the right track and that hopefully we can … stand up to the oligarchy.”

One of Torres’s reasons for coming out was the threat of cuts to much-needed social programs.

“One of my friends was on Medicare and they were trying to take them off life support. It was kind of sad that they had to start thinking about those kinds of things,” Torres said. “If our health care is getting cut, a lot of people are going to suffer because they can’t get the help they need.”

Kahlil Cacabelos, member of the Bay Area chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said he came out to show solidarity with the unions and “to build people’s working class consciousness.”

“I think we have forgotten the real meaning of Labor Day, which is to honor those who have fought so that we can have the rights we have today,” Cacabelos said. “We’re still continuing to fight for livable wages, housing and education.”

As a representative of PSL, Cacabelos hoped to show attendees an alternative to the United States’s two-party system.

Robles, who has been active in civil rights movements since the ‘70s, said the rally was a continuation of a decades-long struggle for justice.

“Labor Day was another great excuse to remind people that it’s the workers that make this place work, and it’s our families that we do this for, both the generation before us and the generation after us,” she said.