FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2026
Abortion Action Missouri
Contact: paige@abortionactionmissouri.org
LOUIS, MO — On International Workers’ Day, St. Louis workers, students, and community members joined Missourians across the state for a “No Work, No School, No Shopping” nationwide day of economic disruption. Over a thousand St. Louisans gathered in Aloe Plaza.
As part of the statewide mobilization, a broad coalition of labor, community, immigrant and racial justice, and pro-democracy organizations demanded the wealthy pay their fair share like the rest of us do; an end to ICE terror; and a democracy where working people — Black, white, and Brown — make more of the decisions about their jobs, their government, and their communities.
Community members and allies joined the coalition for a short press conference followed by a rally and march to Enterprise’s headquarters to protest the company’s role in supplying vehicles used by masked, armed ICE agents to conduct raids in homes and workplaces — actions that threaten the safety and freedoms of all Missourians, regardless of background.
As a critical election year unfolds, Missourians are making clear they will not allow these trends to deepen or authoritarianism to rise unchecked. This country belongs to us, not a fascist regime. If we want to take America back, we’re going to have to do what we’ve always done as working people: Come together, use our strength in numbers, and take bold action to get things done together that we can’t get done on our own.
Event Speakers:
- Rev. Kevin Anthony, Pastor at the Pilgrim Congregational Church United Church of Christ (UCC)
- Iana McAllister, Barista at Kaldi’s Coffee and leader with Missouri Workers Center
- Angel Flores, Organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) St. Louis
- Nikita Gupta, Leader with the WashU Graduate Workers Union (WUGWU)
- Demetrice Davis, Leader with Action St. Louis
- Ramonda Watkins, Certified Nursing Assistant and union leader with Service Employees’ International Union (SEIU) Healthcare
- Cori Bush, Former congresswoman and current candidate for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in St. Louis
- Hasan Piker, Political commentator
“We won our initial vote for a union in January,” said Iana McAllister, St. Louis Kaldi’s Coffee worker and leader with Missouri Workers Center. “Then we started organizing for the company to protect our coworkers and customers from the terror of masked federal ICE agents. By coming together to show up for our community, we got a majority of signatures on our petition to make Kaldi’s a 4th Amendment business that does not cooperate with ICE.”
She continued: “Management tried to divide us by race, but we saw through their lies and pushed past our fear. Now we’re more united because we realized that whether we are Black, Brown, or white; born here or moved here, we all want the same things. Higher wages, safety, and dignity and respect on the job. We are not the enemy. The corporations squeezing us are. Without our labor, they don’t get to be billionaires. That’s why I didn’t work today.”
“Almost every single person in my facility relies on Medicaid,” said Ramonda Watkins, a healthcare worker at a nursing home in St. Louis. “Out of over a hundred residents, we might only have one person on private pay. So when you talk about Medicaid cuts, what I hear is: your residents are getting pushed out, your facility is closing, you are losing your job. Billionaires get break after break while we pay the price every single time. After 25 years in this work, I know one thing: if you don’t speak up, you won’t get nothing. They’re not gonna hand it to you. We are here today to tell them — we’re not done, we’re not quiet, and we’re not going anywhere.”
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The statewide coalition includes: Abortion Action Missouri, Action St. Louis, A Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) STL, Arch City Defenders, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) STL, Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 6300, St. Louis Democratic Socialists of America, Indivisible STL, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 110, Migrant and Immigrant Community Action (MICA) Project, Missouri Jobs With Justice, Missouri Workers Center, MO Equity Education Partnership, Not Another Nickel, Our Revolution, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action, PROMO Missouri, Party for Socialism and Liberation St. Louis, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare, SEIU Local 1, SEIU MO/KS State Council, Starbucks Workers United St. Louis, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2250, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 655, Unite HERE, Washington University Graduate Workers Union (WUGWU), 50501 STL, immigrant justice partners, labor unions, student groups, and community organizations.
