Faculty, Students, Communities Come Together For International Workers’ Day, Campus Activism

Members on campuses and in communities across the state celebrated International Workers’ Day May 1 with marches, rallies, and protests unifying working-class people and honoring our contributions.

This year’s holiday connected many critical fights for reform, fights that many want to join – the struggle for workers’ rights, respect, and justice; combating false austerity measures on CSU campuses; and the movement for peace and justice in Palestine.

Also called May Day, the holiday recognizes workers’ shared struggle for safety on the job, higher wages, stronger contracts, racial and social justice across workplaces, the right to join a union, and fighting back against corporate greed.

Check out our photo gallery of members’ May Day week activities.

Members on campuses experiencing austerity campaigns by management marked May Day with protests increasing awareness with students, faculty, staff, and community members about the harm of the unnecessary cutbacks.

CFA East Bay members are organizing against course cuts, larger class sizes, job loss for faculty, and increasing workloads. They held a rally on campus during May Day week.

“At East Bay, overall enrollment is down, but we have students in cohorts in Teacher Education, Health Care Administration, and other programs who are being turned away because university administration won’t pay faculty to offer the classes that students need. Our campus leadership has decided what they’re willing to spend on faculty and not a penny more, student need be damned,” said Jennifer Eagan, CFA East Bay member and Cal State East Bay Professor.  “And, if East Bay fails to meet its enrollment target set by the chancellor, then we’ll incur a financial penalty. Then, we have less money to offer classes, we’ll serve fewer students, and a death spiral of low enrollment begins. Meanwhile, the president spends lavishly on a new building and a new college. Why do we need these if enrollment at East Bay is down?  If we’re broke, why did the president insist that administrators on our campus be given raises?

“Enrollment is down, but faculty and students are being hurt by bad decisions from poor leadership that make the situation worse,” Eagan added.

Campus communities also are seeing rallies, protests, and encampments advocating for peace and justice in Palestine, with some successes, including at Sacramento State this week.  Largely led by students, CFA members are supporting students by providing organizing, safety, teach-in guidance, and supply deliveries when needed.

We commend these students for peacefully exercising their right to free speech and moving the needle on conversations around genocide, military industrial complex divestment, CSU spending transparency, and more. Students need our support as they risk much by taking stances against the multibillion-dollar institution that is the CSU.

We support faculty and students’ rights to protest free from brutal aggression by militarized police and free from academic retaliation and repression by university officials. We are against antisemitism and islamophobia in all forms, and we demand an end to violence in Gaza.