Inland Empire May Day March Draws 1,000, Spotlights Labor Rights, Immigration, Environmental Justice

Nearly 1,000 people marched through downtown San Bernardino on May 1, bringing labor, immigrant rights and environmental justice groups together for a May Day demonstration that shut down a major city intersection and amplified calls for worker protections, community investment and an end to immigration raids.

The march, organized by the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice with support from the Warehouse Workers Resource Center, Inland Empire Labor Institute, Inland Empire Labor Council and Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, began at 1:30 p.m. at Feldheym Public Library.

Participants moved through downtown San Bernardino, stopping at City Hall and the San Bernardino Immigration Field Office before gathering at E Street and Rialto Avenue, where demonstrators halted traffic while chanting and rallying in the heat.

The Inland Empire march was part of May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, a global day of labor solidarity rooted in the fight for the eight-hour workday and the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. This year, demonstrations across the country have linked labor rights with immigration protections, economic inequality and community safety.

San Bernardino resident Ron Alvarado, who is running for City Council in the First Ward, said he attended to advocate for local jobs, accountability and community benefit agreements.

“I’m here because I’m here to stand for the community, for public sector jobs, for living wage jobs, for community benefit agreements,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado said San Bernardino needs stronger local control over tax dollars and development decisions.

“It’s time for us to bring that tax dollars and accountability back to the city,” he said. “We need to ensure that developers have community benefit agreements when they develop in San Bernardino to provide those high-paying jobs for our community.”

Ontario resident Andrea Galvan said the march reflected how labor, immigration and environmental justice issues intersect across the Inland Empire.

“I’m here today to be part of this movement of labor and immigrant rights groups and environmental justice groups that have come out across the Inland Empire to fight for our community,” Galvan said. “Because all of these fights are profoundly connected.”

Galvan said the march was about more than one issue.

“We deserve clean air, safe streets, safe communities, and immigrants are welcome here,” she said. “We should be paying workers fairly. All of these fights are connected.”

Fontana resident Luz Perez, also running for Fontana City Council, said immigration enforcement has created fear among families and hurt small businesses.

“When it comes to immigration, it has really affected our communities, especially our small businesses,” Perez said. “They have been really hit by the immigration enforcement. People are just not coming out. People are living in fear.”

Perez said demonstrators were calling for more protections.

“Overall, we just want the raids to stop and we want more safety and protections for our communities,” she said.

Despite the heat, participants from San Bernardino, Fontana, Ontario and other Inland Empire communities continued marching and chanting through downtown, underscoring the region’s growing labor and immigrant rights movement.

For organizers and attendees, the message was clear: May Day was not only a national call for worker solidarity, but a local demand for dignity, safety and accountability in one of California’s most heavily impacted regions for warehouse labor, air quality concerns and immigrant communities.