LYNN — Workers, organizers, and community members filled the Lynn Common Thursday evening for a May Day rally and march in support of labor rights and upcoming contract talks for General Electric’s plant in Lynn.
Led by the New Lynn Coalition, the event featured calls for fair wages, immigrant protections, rent control, and strengthened public services. The program concluded with a march from the bandstand to the GE plant, where workers represented by IUE-CWA Local 201 are preparing for negotiations.
“May Day is not just a celebration,” said New Lynn Coalition President Tish Mukala. “It is a call to action. It is a day when we stand up for workers’ rights, immigrant rights, affordable housing, and the fundamental dignity of every individual in our community.”
Mukala, a nurse practitioner and longtime community activist, emphasized the need for access to affordable health care, food, and housing, particularly for working-class families and immigrant communities. She encouraged attendees to remain organized and vigilant as economic pressures mount. “Today we stand united in our fight for workers who deserve fair wages and safe conditions,” she said.
Jeff Crosby, a retired GE machinist and union official who helped found the New Lynn Coalition in 2010, spoke on the history of May Day and the labor movement’s immigrant roots. Crosby previously served as president of both IUE-CWA Local 201 and the North Shore Labor Council, and spent over three decades at GE’s Lynn plant.
“This is the 19th year we’ve held this march in Lynn,” Crosby said. “Immigrants were at the heart of the labor movement then — and they still are today.”
He recounted the Haymarket Affair of 1886, when workers striking for an eight-hour day were met with deadly violence, and eight labor leaders were sentenced to death, most without evidence. “Since 1886, May Day has been celebrated around the world as we commemorate our martyrs and fight our own struggles today,” he said.
Crosby linked historical repression of immigrant workers to current narratives targeting people speaking out against global injustice. “In 1886, immigrants were called anarchists. Today they’re called terrorists just for raising their voices,” he said. “We have to keep fighting for justice — for workers, for immigrants, and for democracy.”
Speakers from Lynn United for Change and ECHO Action spoke next, turning attention to housing costs. A representative from Lynn United cited local tenants facing rent hikes of $500 or more and warned that displacement was accelerating. “The only solution for that is rent control; we’ve waited too long for the state to bring it back.”
Collette, an organizer with ECHO and a renter herself, urged lawmakers to lift the statewide ban on rent control to give cities like Lynn the ability to stabilize housing markets and protect working-class residents. “We need our representatives to stand with renters — not developers,” she said.
Ellen Mei, president of Chapter 255 of the National Treasury Employees Union, addressed cuts to the federal workforce. Representing USDA employees who oversee programs like SNAP and school meals, Mei said staffing reductions threaten essential services. “Since January, I’ve lost half of my coworkers,” she said. “The rich and powerful are trying to destroy our unions and take the money meant for our communities.”
Following the speeches, organizers led participants in a march from the bandstand to GE’s gates. A marching band, delayed by a flat tire, rejoined partway through. Police escorted the procession along the route.
“When our rights are under attack, we stand up and we march,” Mukala said in closing, urging continued solidarity with GE workers and with all who fight for dignity and justice on the job.
