Scores of San Diegans took to the streets Thursday for May Day demonstrations in of workers’ rights and to call attention to the contributions of the country’s immigrant workforce in light of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies.
The streets of Hillcrest were awash in brightly colored union shirts as nearly 1,000 marchers made their way from UC San Diego Hillcrest Medical Center to Balboa Park in the morning. Later in Chicano Park, hundreds of demonstrators, many waving flags from various Latin American countries, rallied under murals depicting the community’s fight for social justice.
Similar marches took place nationwide with marchers filling the streets in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in recognition of May Day, also known as International Workers Day.
At the hospital in Hillcrest, hundreds of UC San Diego Health system employees — including tech specialists, pharmacists and patient ambassadors — gathered around 10 a.m. near the hospital’s entrance to demand better pay and work conditions during a one-day strike.
of the Union of Professional and Technical Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees held signs and congregated in front of the hospital entrance where patients and doctors entered and exited.
Demonstrators were led in chants before the crowd began their 1½-mile march to Balboa Park, ed by of local chapters of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Service Employees International Union, representing those who work in everything from health care to food services to retail.
The march temporarily snarled traffic along surface streets, the crowd stretching about two city blocks long, but no incidents were reported to San Diego police.
The demonstrators gathered at the park to listen to speeches praising organized labor and calling for solidarity.
Randall Turner, who works in information technology at the UC San Diego East Campus Medical Center, said he was demonstrating against the hiring freeze instituted by UC San Diego Health. He performs maintenance and provides for computers and other tech equipment that doctors and other staff use to treat patients.
“We are already at a critical point with our staff where we are having to travel to multiple locations and do a lot of things, and it’s just not giving enough to all our sites at the same time,” Turner said.
Lisa Tiller, a patient ambassador at UC San Diego Health’s Moores Cancer Center who helps patients with everything from transportation to patient accommodations, said she has been “feeling the pressure” of the staffing levels.
“We’re overworked, we’re underpaid, we’re understaffed,” she said.
In a statement, UC San Diego Health said that “outstanding patient care remains our top priority.”
“We will continue to monitor staffing and resources to uphold our high standards of care and commitment to the community,” the statement read.
Later in the afternoon, Ricardo Gómez, 73, hoisting a flag representing the farmworker movement, was among the hundreds who had gathered at Chicano Park in solidarity with workers’ struggles. The Logan Heights resident and longtime social activist had been part of the protest movement in 1970 that created the park.
“Immigrants are the ones who lift this country up,” he said.
He echoed others who said they were concerned about Trump’s mass deportation goals.
“It’s sad,” he said. “The same people who give everything to this country, even pay taxes, and they are being treated like they’re criminals.”
Demonstrators issued demands that Immigration and Customs Enforcement stay out of their communities, especially their schools.
“We’ve got to fight back,” said Marisol Durán, a high school teacher with the San Diego Association of Raza Educators.
A group of Aztec dancers led the hour-long march from historic Chicano Park through the streets of Logan Heights.
As they walked down Imperial Avenue, onlookers emerged from homes and businesses to witness and record the march on their cellphones. “Únete pueblo,” or “People, us,” some protesters said, inviting them to .
