Inland Empire Labor Day Parade Spotlights AI, Medicaid Cuts and Union Power

More than 300 union members, elected officials and supporters marched through downtown Riverside on Monday for the Inland Empire Labor Council’s inaugural Labor Day Parade and Unity Picnic, calling for living wages, stronger workplace protections and a greater worker voice as artificial intelligence reshapes the economy.

The Sept. 7 parade began at Magnolia Avenue and Ramona Drive and ended at Main and 12th streets before participants gathered at White Park. Marchers danced to music from a DJ and chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Medicaid cuts have got to go.”

Speakers tied the celebration to the quality of local jobs, rising living costs, Medicaid changes, extreme heat and resistance to union organizing.

DeJonaé Shaw, president of the Inland Empire Labor Council, said some large corporations have the resources to improve wages and benefits but refuse to bargain in good faith.

“Your employer is not going to do right by you and give you a great collective bargaining agreement,” Shaw said. “You’re going to have to fight for it.”

Shaw called for Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, known as the PRO Act, saying workers need consistent national organizing protections.

Shaw also rejected the idea that warehouse growth automatically creates economic security. Concerns about pay, benefits and working conditions have led some employees to organize despite fearing retaliation, she said.

“They’re more afraid of not being able to feed their families,” Shaw said. “They’re more afraid of not being able to have good health care benefits that all of us need.”

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, identified heat exposure, union recognition and workforce development as urgent concerns. Effective heat standards and enforcement are especially important for warehouse employees, he said.

Takano also warned that Congress is moving too slowly to address artificial intelligence’s potential effect on jobs and wages.

“I’m afraid to say that the conversations aren’t happening fast enough,” Takano said. “AI is moving at breakneck speed.”

He said he is working to reestablish the Office of Technology Assessment, giving Congress access to independent experts. Takano also plans to reintroduce his 32-hour workweek proposal in response to automation and rising productivity.

The proposal would lower the federal overtime threshold for nonexempt employees from 40 hours to 32. It would not prohibit employees from working more than 32 hours.

“I believe that technology should serve humanity, not the other way around,” Takano said. “All Americans, all workers, should share in the gains that technology brings us.”

Riverside City Councilmember Sean Mill, who represents Ward 5, said jobs attracted to the region must offer living wages and meaningful benefits. Too many families depend on multiple incomes simply to afford rent, he said.

“It’s an affordability crisis,” Mill said. “We need to make sure that the jobs we are bringing to the Inland Empire, to the city of Riverside, pay a livable wage.”

Mill recalled that his father’s union job at Pacific Bell allowed their family to own a home and meet its basic needs.

“What made America great was the middle class,” Mill said. “Average working-class people being able to afford to live in our country.”

Mill said the idea for the local celebration emerged during lunch with Ricardo Cisneros, who asked why the Inland Empire did not have its own Labor Day parade. Mill then took the proposal to former Riverside City Manager Mike Futrell and began working with city staff.

The aim, Mill said, was to let Inland Empire workers celebrate near home instead of traveling to established Labor Day events elsewhere in Southern California.

Desmond Prescott, District 3 chair for United Domestic Workers, highlighted home care and child care providers whose labor often takes place outside public view. UDW represents more than 250,000 workers statewide, including more than 42,000 in Riverside County, he told attendees.

“You may not always see their work, but America could not function without it,” Prescott said. “Care is labor, and care workers are workers.”

Prescott said federal Medicaid changes could put additional pressure on home care services. A federal law enacted in 2025 changed Medicaid financing and eligibility and established work requirements for certain adults beginning in 2027, with exemptions that include some family caregivers and medically frail people.

Robert Gonzalez, communications coordinator for Teamsters Local 1932, urged elected officials and community members to support workers seeking union contracts.

“The fight to unionize Amazon is all of our fight,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez was referring to a one-day unfair labor practice strike Sept. 2 at Amazon’s DJT6 delivery station near March Air Reserve Base. Teamsters said both primary shifts participated, marking the third walkout since workers launched their union drive in December 2025.

The union said a majority of DJT6 warehouse employees signed authorization cards in December and accused Amazon of retaliation and refusing to negotiate. The materials did not include a response from Amazon.

Gonzalez also said elected officials who seek union endorsements should be willing to join workers on picket lines.

Shaw closed her comments with an appeal to workers who are not union members or are unfamiliar with organized labor.

“All of the things that you enjoy today as a worker is because a union fought for it,” Shaw said. “Don’t let the corporations and the naysayers tell you that without a union, you are better off.”