This Labor Day, people plan to raise their voices under the banner of ‘Workers over Billionaires.’

What are you doing to celebrate Labor Day? Sara Rubin here, happy to report that my plans (along with all of my colleagues at the Weekly) include not working. It is a fitting way to celebrate workers’ rights in the United States that many working people enjoy the day off of work—time off of course being a signature achievement of the labor movement in the last century. 

“Working people” is a term of art. Everyone who provides labor in exchange for money is working—but perhaps the emphasis belongs more on people than on working. 

This Labor Day, people power will be displayed at protests all over the country, with thousands of gatherings expected. They are gathering under the message of #WorkersOverBillionaires, a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump’s oligarchical approach to governing. 

“Workers are the mainstay of our society and we have to protect them,” says Heidi Feldman, one of the organizers. Among other threats to the working class, she points to tariffs that are likely to raise consumer prices, mass firings of federal employees and widespread deportations of immigrant workers.

“We want to have this event to honor workers and let them know we support them and our movement is there to protect them and look to a brighter future,” Feldman adds.

That movement includes a variety of groups like Unite Monterey County, the national group 50501 and the national Indivisible movement, which has local chapters. They have organized consistently since Trump’s inauguration, with regular—and big—protests on coordinated days, aligning with a national presence. 

Feldman is under no illusion that Trump is listening, or that he cares. Part of the purpose is to create a community of resistance. “People who join us get energized by it,” she says. “It’s a show of what our local community can do and when we gather, it’s usually very joyful and a positive experience for people. They walk away and say, ‘I’m not alone.’”

Labor Day protests are scheduled to take place on Monday, Sept. 1 from noon-2pm in Salinas (at Blanco Road and South Main Street), and from 2-5pm in Monterey (at Window on the Bay on Del Monte Boulevard). 

What’s your message this Labor Day?