International Workers' Day

This is a speech I gave at a Boulder Area Labor Council rally on May 1, 2025.

Thank you all for joining us today, on International Workers' Day, when we unite with workers around the world to demand justice, dignity, and respect. 

Thank you to Alejandra Beatty, president of the Boulder Area Labor Council. She stepped into leadership at a hard time and she’s helping us all rise to the challenge.

I'm Dr. Nicole Speer, one of nine members of Boulder's city council. I'm also a scientist, union member, and worker at CU Boulder for about two more months.

Due to federal funding delays and cuts at NIH and NSF, the research job I've held for over 13 years is ending.  

It means a lot that you showed up today to advocate for all the workers who are losing their jobs due to these intentional attacks on scientists, facts, and data. 

How many of you have rallied on International Workers Day before? 

How many of you know that International Workers' Day began in the United States? 

This day's origin story is as relevant today as it was 139 years ago.

In 1886, workers and socialists across the country were organizing and protesting for an 8-hour workday. 

On May 3, during a protest in Chicago, police killed two workers. The workers weren't deterred. They returned on May 4, and as the protest ended, a bomb detonated. The police responded with gunfire that resulted in additional deaths and injuries, including police casualties.

Eight workers were charged with murder, despite most not being at the protest. In 1893, the Illinois governor declared the trial was unfair due to judicial bias, jury tampering, and fabricated evidence. By then, half the workers had been executed, and one had committed suicide in jail.

Workers worldwide were inspired by the courage of these protesters. They declared May 1 International Workers' Day. Over 160 countries celebrate it, but not us. Our government stopped us from celebrating it here because socialists, workers, and leftists started it.

In a country built by enslaved people, the idea that workers have fundamental human rights continues to be seen as radical even today. 

I wish it were a surprise that the one percent is again running the country. But they started dismantling union power in the 1970s, when the Heritage Foundation started developing Project 2025. 

It's easier to dismantle democracy when you've taken away workers' rights to organize and create democracy in their workplaces. 

Now, with the lowest levels of union membership since the 1920s, income inequality is back to its highest levels since the 1920s and the oligarchs are once again running the show.

Our scientists, researchers, and federal workers tirelessly provide us with the data we need to keep our communities safe and advance innovation —whether it's predicting devastating weather events or advancing groundbreaking research in quantum physics. 

Of course these achievements are now under siege — policies that prioritize families’ futures over billionaires' fortunes disrupt their plans.

So what can we do?

Contact Colorado's federal representatives and demand they oppose any budget that undermines our scientific institutions. Tell them to protest unconstitutional terminations of federal workers and the defunding of scientific research that is vital for our progress and safety.

But don't stop there.

Workers need you to act locally, too. This past winter, grocery workers were on strike — join local picket lines when workers are striking. In March, workers and labor advocates fought to stop the state legislature from reversing the progress Boulder City and County, Lakewood, and Denver had made in raising their minimum wage — advocate for workers at the state level too.

Right now, Boulder County's public health and housing authority workers are fighting for their right to collectively bargain. CU Boulder faculty, staff, and student workers need support to get CU to recognize their union — United Campus Workers Colorado. So call the county, and CU, too.

Workers worldwide have always fought fearlessly and courageously against oligarchy and autocracy. If we're going to take back our government, we need to step up our fight for them. This is why so many of you showing up on International Workers' Day makes me hopeful. 

The history of this day teaches us about the importance of courage and the power of collective action. It helps us remember that throughout history, standing up for workers' rights has never been safe, but it has always been right. 

This is even more true as workers like Jeanette Vizguerra are rounded up, detained, and even deported without due process... and as their children are kidnapped and trafficked in the name of national security. 

When you know the radical history of labor movements, you know that workers always win when we stand together. This is why they've tried to hide this day from us. They know that workers united have the power. We always have. 

Thank you for standing with us today, for standing for science, for workers, and for the future we are building together. 

KEEP GOING.