May Day 2026 brings more than 3,000 US blackout actions
Organizers say may day 2026 will bring more than 3,000 economic blackout actions across the United States on 1 May. Labor unions, democratic organizations and community groups are backing the call for no school, no work and no shopping.
Neidi Dominguez, the founding executive director of Organized Power in Numbers, said the campaign has more than doubled from last year’s roughly 1,300 May Day actions. Dominguez said the goal is to show people the power they collectively have to create economic disruption.
Chicago unions join the blackout
In Chicago, several local labor unions and community groups jointly announced an economic blackout for 1 May. The groups include the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana, Indivisible Chicago and the Chicago Federation of Labor.
Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Federation of Teachers, said, “May Day has to become bigger in this moment.” Davis Gates also said, “This is about building a more popular united front.”
Chicago’s blackout is part of a wider push that organizers say is spreading across the country, with cities including Los Angeles and Chicago preparing city-wide economic blackouts.
Los Angeles coalition expands demands
In Los Angeles, the LA May Day coalition is organizing an economic blackout around immigration rights, voting rights, abolishing ICE, anti-war protests and defending workers’ rights. The coalition includes more than 50 local organizations.
Pedro Trujillo, director of organizing at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said May Day has long brought immigration and labor rights groups together to press multiple demands at once. Trujillo pointed to a day without an immigrant boycott about 20 years ago as one example.
Dominguez said the effort was inspired by the economic blackout in Minnesota during a massive ICE operation and added that Minneapolis gave organizers the biggest push in real time. Dominguez said this year’s actions are also a reaction to actions and threats from the Trump administration, including the proposal to send ICE agents to polling places during the midterms and unilateral military actions on Venezuela and Iran.
The next step is the 1 May blackout itself, with organizers in Chicago, Los Angeles and other US cities urging participation in the same no-school, no-work and no-shopping call.
