“Solidarity is the cure for the cruelty, the chaos, the greed and the corruption that abounds in this moment.”

“No one gave us a living wage—we negotiated in every contract on every job site and at every level of government. We know that no one gave us a seat at the policy making table—we built our own chairs and used our elbows to make space for each other.”

Video (YouTube)

BOSTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) delivered powerful remarks at Boston’s first-ever Labor Day Parade in which she honored the historic struggle for workers’ rights and economic justice, and connected it to today’s fights for fair contracts, living wages, and protections for immigrant and essential workers. Prior to her remarks, Congresswoman Pressley marched alongside union members, labor leaders, and community advocates to celebrate the power of organized labor, honor the victories of the past, and recommit to the fight for workers’ rights.

In her remarks, Congresswoman Pressley called out Donald Trump and Republicans’ efforts to dismantle labor protections, and reminded attendees that every hard-won right was earned through organizing and solidarity.

As a parent, caregiver, and former service industry worker, Congresswoman Pressley has consistently advocated for policies that bolster workers’ rights and strengthen labor unions.

A transcript of her full remarks, as delivered, is available below, and full video is available here.

Transcript: Rep. Pressley’s Remarks at Boston’s First-Ever Labor Day Parade
Boston, MA
September 1, 2025

Good to be home, y’all, it’s good to be home in the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District. 

Good to be home in the city of Boston, where we have a mayor in vigorous defense of our shared values and principles who fights for every person who calls this city home. 

It’s good to be with family, movement family, brothers and sisters.

Every year, on this day, we come together to break bread. We couldn’t do that this year. We couldn’t do that this year, when the opposition and the Fascist-in-Chief is attacking working families, breaking laws, breaking spirits along the way.

We could not proceed with business as usual. And these two extraordinary women, Darlene Lombos, Chrissy Lynch, they knew that. They knew that this moment required something disruptive, something that matches the energy of the opposition. 

We needed to meet the moment with a solidarity march—emphasis on solidarity—because nobody is free until everybody is free.

Every year at this time, I can’t help but to think and we just marked the 62nd anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, led by Dr. King and so many of our civil rights leaders there to affirm that workers’ rights are human rights, doing the work of marching and organizing and agitating for racial, social and economic justice. 

The great civil rights leader Dorothy Height said, “If the times are not ripe. You have to ripen them.” And that is what you need movements for. 

I can’t help but to then think about Dr. King being shoulder to shoulder in one of his last demonstrations in support of workers’ rights, our sanitation workers in Memphis, where men and Dr. King were wearing signs that said, “I am a Man.” They were organizing, agitating, mobilizing to affirm their humanity and their dignity. 

So today, we come together on this Labor Day, not for a breakfast to break bread, but to lift up one another in movement and that same fight that Dr. King fought in 1968, mere weeks before his assassination, standing shoulder to shoulder with those sanitation workers and here in 2025 our sanitation workers are still fighting for their dignity, are still fighting for their humanity. 

And until Republic gives the Teamsters a fair contract — nobody is free until everybody is free.

When our educators are told they have to teach our babies how to run, hide, fight, but they still have to dip into their own pockets for school supplies — nobody is free until everybody is free. 

When our nurses are told they can’t deliver the care they know their patients need — nobody is free until everybody is free.

When they gut collective bargaining at the VA and the EPA — nobody’s free until everybody is free. 

When they are replacing the hardworking men and women at our concession stands with automated robots — nobody is free until everybody is free.

When they are arresting and kidnapping our immigrant siblings from job sites — nobody is free until everybody is free. 

Workers’ rights are human rights. 

Fair contracts that value your labor, see your humanity, treat you with dignity and allow you to not just make a living, but to make a life. 

Where you can afford to dream, to plan, to rest — nobody is free until everybody is free. 

Solidarity is the cure for the cruelty, the chaos, the greed and the corruption that abounds in this moment. 

Now, let me just say that it should be painfully obvious why Trump and his efforts to make America Jim Crow again, Trump and his lackeys, they are obsessed with rewriting and whitewashing American history. 

They do not want you to know that we are stronger together. They want to pit us against each other, but we know our history. 

We know that no one gave us an eight hour work day and weekend — we won them. 

We know that no one gave us a living wage — we negotiated in every contract on every job site and at every level of government. 

We know that no one gave us a seat at the policy making table — we built our own chairs and used our elbows to make space for each other. 

Brothers and sisters, I’ll close the way I do at every breakfast:

I’m not only here because I value your labor. I’m here because I give a damn about your lives. Solidarity. Forever. 

Rep. Pressley has been a committed voice for federal workers pushing back against the Trump Administration’s efforts to decimate federal agencies. In a House Oversight Committee hearing in March, Rep. Pressley slammed Republicans for attempting to gut federal unions and weaken worker protections.

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