May 1st: Here's the Plan — We Need You
Patriots,
We have been planning for May 1st and want to share our thoughts and get your help.
WHAT WE'RE DOING
There's a national call for a day of "no work, no school, no shopping" from Indivisible and partner organizations on May 1st. We spent time talking about what makes sense for Westfield specifically, and here's the plan:
A rally and teach-in at the park, tentatively 2-4PM. Tables with labor education and local history, music, and refreshed signage. We want this to feel energized and educational.
4-5PM at the overpass for our regular Friday standout with May Day signage.
Join WMALF (AFL-CIO) in Holyoke at 4:30 for a large May Day March
We're encouraging "no work, no school, no shopping" for anyone who can do it without consequences. The boycott focus is on big corporations that back the regime, or have complied in advance.
Home Depot. Amazon. Target. Citizen's Bank.
For other boycott targets, visit https://www.iceoutboycott.com/
WHY THIS APPROACH
We talked honestly about the general strike framing. We don't want to use language that overpromises what we can deliver, who we are, or where Westfield fits in all of this. What we can do is educate ourselves and our community, show up visibly, and build toward bigger action down the road. Inspire others to organize for their cause, or in their work place.
Between now and May 1st, we're using Tuesdays and social media to share labor history, local stories, and examples of collective action that worked.
This isn't a detour from our mission: it's at the heart of it. The billionaires and corporations propping up this administration are the same forces that have spent decades crushing unions, suppressing wages, gutting healthcare, and privatizing education. All the while there are more billionaires, more wealth concentrated– from less than a trillion dollars in 2000, to almost 20 trillion dollars in 2026.
When we talk about labor, we're talking about the same fight we've been in since day one: power belongs to the people, not billionaires. Our signs are getting some additions and updates to reflect that focus — wages, healthcare, housing, education, and a life worth living.
April 25th, 11-12PM in Park Square, is our Saturday "prequel" where we can advertise for May 1st!
WE NEED YOU
How can you support this action?
Here's what we need:
- Make signs with labor and forward-looking themes
- Get in touch with workers and union members in YOUR life to bring their stories to the community
- Identify union leaders, rank and file, and organizers to speak at the rally
- Help set up and run tables at the teach-in
- Share or create labor history content, art, or writing
- Bring one new person to a Tuesday or Friday standout
- Train to become a safety marshal
- Make a contribution
If you will help make this plan a reality, speak up — or say it Tuesday.
Four weeks. Let's make them count.
See our full working list of April 2026 events here: https://nokingswestfield.com/april-2026-events/
No Kings Westfield
[email protected]
Think you see ICE? CALL LUCE : 617-370-5023