AFSCME members from around the region rallied at Washington D.C.’s No Kings event Saturday, where AFSCME President Lee Saunders urged the nation to stand together in support of workers, unions and democracy.
“We cannot put up with folks who want to take our rights away from us. We’ve got to take the billionaires on in this country who want more power and wealth at the expense of working people,” Saunders said at the pre-march rally.
AFSCME members carried similar messages to No Kings events nationwide. Saturday’s No Kings event was one of 3,300 rallies across the nation attended by more than 8 million people. Countless AFSCME members took part in events held in New York, Chicago, Oregon and California, to name a few locations.
The Washington event featured speakers from various D.C.-based organizations with messages advocating for freedom, public services, safety, opportunity, jobs, civil rights, voting rights, empowerment, higher wages and affordability.
“Believe me, it doesn’t matter who you are or how you got here, we are all in the same boat now and right now we’re in the storm of our lives,” Saunders said. “We’re pulling together. We’re fighting back. We’re going to stand together. We’re going to fight together. We’re going to take the streets together and we’re taking our country back.”
As the massive crowd crossed the Anacostia River on the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, union members wearing AFSCME green talked about why they joined the No Kings day of action in the nation’s capital.
Marsha Mayo, a Washington school crossing guard and member of AFSCME Local 709 (District Council 20), has seen how budget cuts have led to a hiring freeze and a loss of overtime pay, and now paying for health care has become more of a struggle.
“I want to see a change in the way things are run, politically,” Mayo said. “There has to be a better way.”
Kieaina Rious, who also works for the District Department of Transportation as a school crossing guard, said her main concern is keeping children safe and giving them hope for a brighter future.
“These cuts affect a lot of people and their families,” Rious said. “And that’s why we have to educate the youth on policy and on their rights, because they are the future.”
Greg Bailey, conservator at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and member of AFSCME Local 930 (Council 3), appreciated how No Kings brought together people of all backgrounds to organize for change.
“We are the most prosperous nation in the history of humanity and for us to choose not to provide for the least among us is a terrible indictment of our country,” Bailey said.