Local unions, progressive organizations draw thousands in Albuquerque for this Labor Day protest

On Monday morning, thousands marched through Downtown Albuquerque, voicing their opposition to President Donald Trump at the “Workers over Billionaires” protest.

“We are the true patriots standing out here fighting for this country,” Eithne Johnson, a protester in attendance, said.

The local protest was in line with hundreds of others across the country, which were led by unions and other progressive organizations.

“It’s a travesty of democracy and justice. Everything that they’re (the Trump administration) doing is just antithetical to what the United States should be standing for,” Eric Schaefer, another protester, said.

The local Teamsters, communications, teachers, graduate workers and trade unions, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Southwestern Coalition for Palestine were among the organizers of the Albuquerque demonstration.

“I think a lot of times, people think that Labor Day is a day that they get to spend time at home, right with their families,” Sarah Hager, membership and involvement vice president for the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, said. “But I walked behind a family today with four little girls, and I just thought, what a wonderful way to spend time with your family.”

According to a joint social media post from ATF and other organizers, over 6,000 people attended the protest. The New Mexico Republican Party did not provide comment.

For its part, the White House put out a proclamation ahead of the weekend, signed Thursday by Trump, that pledged “to protect American jobs and defend the dignity of American labor.”

“Tragically, in recent decades, a corrupt political class allowed our manufacturing base to decline,” the proclamation reads. “Our jobs were shipped to distant shores, our industries decimated, and our communities weakened, all while building up foreign competitors at the expense of American workers and families.”