Hundreds attend Yakima May Day rally in support of worker rights

Chants of “Si se puede!” commenced this year’s annual May Day march in support of worker rights.

Around 250 people gathered at the Henry Beauchamp Community Center for the event, which featured music by students from Yakima Music en Acción, as well as a local mariachi band. Several local organizations handed out information before more than 200 marchers walked down Arlington Street, Fair Avenue, Nob Hill Boulevard and First Street. 

May Day, known also as International Workers Day, has been celebrated by workers since 1889. May 1 was chosen in remembrance of the start of an 1886 Chicago general strike fighting for the eight-hour workday, which ended in the bloody Haymarket massacre four days later.

PHOTOS: 2024 Yakima May Day March

More than 200 farm workers, advocates and community members  from across Yakima County gathered at the Henry Beauchamp Community Center to mar…

May Day marches have a long history in the Yakima Valley. Nobody knows this more than Toppenish City Council member Ezequiel Morfin, Jr., who has participated in the Yakima march for many years.

For Morfin and his family, marching for workers’ rights is a family tradition. His father was once a leader of the United Farm Workers of Washington. As a child, he and his family were in the 1986 march from Granger to Yakima led by Cesar Chavez.

“There weren’t rights back then,” Morfin said, noting that he was working in the farm fields by the age of 8.

“We have to respect and honor and continue the legacy of our elders who fought so much for our rights,” he said while carrying his son on his shoulders.

Gabriel Munoz served as emcee for the event. He said he likes to participate in the annual march because there’s still many things to fight for — like unemployment benefits for undocumented workers, better housing and better education.

“We have a lot of poverty out here in the valley,” he said. “It’s affecting not just the Latino community.”

Cecilia Vizcaino is an organizer of the May First Coalition Yakima Valley, the group which leads the event. She said multiple organizations, including the Fair Work Center, the Hunters musical group, Latino Community Fund, Central Labor Council and local college professors helped organize the march.

Vizcaino said she participates because she wants to see health care, immigration, and unemployment reforms. “As a DACA recipient, all those things are important to me,” she said.

She said that there was a lot more energy and attendees this year than in 2023.

Volunteers, both young and old, wore brightly colored vests and spent time helping. Juan Vargas is a Yakima Valley College student who used to work in agriculture and jumped at the opportunity to help when his professor mentioned it. He sees discrimination in access to resources and treatment in society based on occupation.

"Just because you work in the office and someone works in the field doesn't mean you treat them differently," he said.

Jackie Razo, another YVC student, said her family members are migrant workers.

"I really want to represent my family," she said.

That's a sentiment shared by Gustavo Rubín, who has been volunteering at May Day marches in Yakima for over a decade.

"Todos que estamos aqui representamos los que no vienen," he said. "All that are here represent those who can't come."

He wants to get out and do something, he said. Francisco Romero, a farmworker who has worked in Yakima Valley orchards for decades, said the same thing. He comes to the event every year to stand up for undocumented workers who might not have access to the same legal protections as their documented counterparts.

There were plenty of youth at carrying signs and shouting chants, as well. Cousins Ava Pacheco, 15, and Elena Fuente, 13, were marching with their parents and want better wages for low-income workers.

"I'm supporting my culture," Pacheco said.

"I'm happy, it's very exciting," Fuente added.