by Nora Redfern from KOOP Radio’s Community Council and contributing KOOP NPA programmers, Pedro Gatos, host of Bringing Light Into Darkness (streaming Mondays 7-8pm) & Jim Trainer, host of In The City (1st Mondays @ 1pm)
May Day, May 1, is International Workers’ Day and KOOP Radio celebrates all month with music and interviews highlighting the struggles and strengths of workers.
Why is International Workers’ Day so important?
All material value is created through the work and value of labor that every human being expends throughout their lifetime. Yet many do not get properly compensated through their wages. And others do, many times over and this is what creates the egregious and increasing levels of wealth inequality.
The 8 hour work day came from labor struggles and organized demands of the labor movement, not the good and fair will of their employers, and was led by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, the predecessor to the American Federation of Labor (AFL), that passed a resolution in 1884 stating that 8 hours should constitute a legal day’s work effective May 1, 1886 onward…..
On May 1, 1886 between 400-500,000 US workers went on strike across the U.S. with 80-100k in Chicago marching in the streets, making it the center of the movement. The peaceful demonstration ended when a bomb exploded and labor organizers were blamed. This became known as the Haymarket Riot. Seven men were singled out, largely for their political beliefs and sentenced to death.
In 1889 the Second International, an organization of socialist and labor parties, established May 1st as a global commemoration of the Haymarket incident and the fight for the 8 hour day. While celebrated globally, the US officially created the less controversial ‘Labor Day’ in September for many workers to reflect on labor history and to take advantage of Labor Day sales.
Later, and significantly International Women’s Day (IWD) originated in the early 20th century amidst labor movements in North America and Europe. The first International Women’s Day was held on February 2, 1909 in the US. It was established to campaign for Women’s suffrage, better pay, and shorter working hours.
Concerns for fair wages and safer working conditions continue today as does egregious wealth inequality.
How much wealth inequality is there in the U.S.?
For the second quarter of 2024 the top 10% of households held 67% of total wealth, while the bottom 50% held only 2.5% of total wealth. Black families’ wealth was about 23 cents for every $1 of white family wealth, while Hispanic families’ wealth was about 19 cents for every $1 of white family wealth. (https://www.stlouisfed.org/community-development-research/the-state-of-us-
According to the 2026 Oxfam Report, the richest 1 percent in the Global North extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023. Billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion in 2024 alone, equivalent to roughly
$5.7 billion a day, a rate 3x faster than the year before. Over 2025 alone, billionaire fortunes grew by 16.2%, three times faster than the average annual rate since 2020. (2026 Oxfam)
Meanwhile, during the same approximate time frame the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, according to World Bank data.
So, who is working for the workers?
KOOP Radio partners with many nonprofit organizations whose mission is to serve the community at large, including workers, helping to create a more just and equitable community. You can view these amazing partners in the Directory.
Unions historically were created by and for the working class interests but many of them were slowly co-opted by the wealth and power of the bosses and their efforts to protect and expand their profit margins. And many unions such as KOOP partner Austin Federation of Musicians Local 433 remain loyal to their workers.
What are you working for?
Working for a wage to pay the bills, and if you are lucky, to have affordable health insurance, while only getting compensated for a portion of the value you create and therefore still getting exploited. This explains why for too many, making ends meet is so stressful.
Significant progress has been made for workers’ rights, such as the 8 hour day, family leave, workplace safety, but it should include the caveat – if people were paid fairly, the egregious wealth gap would shrink and that wealth gap would be rapidly and significantly closing, but it is not.
What about unpaid labor?
According to a January 2020 Oxfam Report, entitled, Time to care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis: Even it Up, Oxfam Report, Jan 2020 “at the bottom of the economy, women and girls, especially the disenfranchised, are putting in 12.5 billion hours every day of care work for free, and countless more hours for poverty wages”.
Who else fills the gaps? Local nonprofits and volunteers!
KOOP Radio partners over 125 nonprofits working in the areas of health, the environment, social justice, LGBTQ+, neighborhood stability. education, and arts & culture, most of whom rely on volunteers to assist in providing services in Central Texas.
KOOP volunteers proudly logged 4,920 hours of volunteer work in 2025 alone!
To celebrate May Day, Austinites have the opportunity to join forces in nonviolent support of workers’ rights at:
- Austin City Hall – Friday, May 1, 12-6 pm – Workers Over Billionaires, rally and march to the Capitol.
- Austin City Hall – May 1, 5-8pm – Hands Off Central Texas, march to the Capitol
- UT Tower – May 1, 5 pm, Rally on labor and immigration solidarity
- Hole in the Wall – May 2, 3-8pm Austin Democratic Socialists of America Concert & Fundraiser