ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Labor Day weekend is typically a time for grilling, parades, and celebrating the American worker, but this year it’s doubling as a stage for Democratic Party messaging, with organizers planning September 1 protests that are expected to spotlight economic inequality and corporate influence in politics – and, as is tradition, morph into full-blown anti-Trump demonstrations.

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The website for the protests is organized under the group “May Day Strong” and it lists a plethora of “partners” including 50501, Move On, Organization for Black Struggle, Indivisible and more. Their theme this time around is “Workers Over Billionaires.”

The demands on their website include:

  1. Stop the billionaire takeover corrupting our government.
  2. Protect and defend Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs for working people.
  3. Fully funded schools, and health care and housing for all.
  4. Stop the attacks on immigrants, Black, indigenous, trans people, and all our communities.
  5. Invest in people not wars.

“Workers over billionaires” push.

The platform highlights wealth disparity and corporate consolidation of power. The group has framed the events as a call to action against billionaires’ growing political sway, arguing that policies continue to favor the wealthy over everyday Americans. The organizers say “Billionaires are stealing from working families, destroying our democracy, and building private armies to attack our towns and cities.”

A nationwide effort.

While some protest maps show only a handful of events in certain areas, nationally the movement appears to be gaining traction. Newsweek reports that over 900 events are planned across all 50 states.

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Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, says, “This is about workers showing up and demanding what workers deserve all across the country. This Labor Day is really different, because it’s not just labor unions, as important as we may be to the workers we represent. It has to be all workers and all working families saying enough. Workers and working families deserve the bounty of the country.”

Politics never takes a holiday.

Labor Day is meant to honor American workers’ contributions, but this year it’s also serving as a reminder of how deeply politics is woven into daily life. Whether or not the protests see large crowds, the number of planned events shows that campaign season energy is already running high. For those hoping for a quiet holiday, it seems politics never really takes a day off – not even in Benzonia, Gaylord, Big Rapids, Ann Arbor or even St. Ignace.