Over a hundred attend protests held in Utah, nationwide, against worker exploitation

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Across the nation, communities participated in a day of action that organizers said was to stand up against the exploitation of workers.

The May Day Strong organization put on over 1000 events across the United States today, with those events meant to protest what organizers call a ‘billionaire takeover’ and exploitation of working families and attacks on democracy.

In Salt Lake City, two events were held. The first was sponsored by Salt Lake Indivisible and was called a “Fascist Fighter Fun Run”. Participants were encouraged to dress up as historical and literary figures that fought against fascist governments.

The fun run also had live music and a food drive which supported the Switchpoint Overflow Community Shelter.

The second event was a protest sponsored by Our Revolution and held at the Utah State Capitol at 6 p.m., and reportedly “focus[ed] on fighting for public schools, healthcare, and shared prosperity over corporate profits and politics.”

“I think that we are hoping to reach both each other and other workers,” Denise Weaber, an organizer and speaker with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told ABC4, “But we also want to let our politicians here in Utah, the politicians both locally and in Congress, know that Utahns don’t want these policies.”

Over 100 people reportedly attended the protest and several speakers, including Weaber, called for worker solidarity or condemned current national and local policies. They also discussed issues with social programs and federal jobs, noting that the national policies were having an impact on local jobs.

“We want clean air, we want policies that make sure that people in our communities can eat, that out schools are funded, like those are the things that Utahns care about now,” Weaber added, “We want everybody, both those with power and those without to see that people are fighting for that.”