A coalition of unions and organizations representing Atlanta workers gathered in Woodruff Park on Monday to discuss frustrations over the impact and power of ultra-wealthy business leaders and other issues.
As part of a nationwide community action movement held on Labor Day, demonstrators were also protesting the detention of immigrants and cuts to social services.
More than 100 protesters came to the “Workers Over Billionaires” rally, which ended with a march to the King Center.
Groups present were the Union of Southern Service Workers, the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP, the American Federation of Government Employees and International Brotherhood of Teamsters, among others.
It was a diverse crowd — protesters wore clerical collars, concert tees and keffiyehs. Some were stragglers from this weekend’s Dragon Con.
Spearheaded by an organization called May Day Strong coalition, more than 1,000 events are taking place on Labor Day to fight for workers’ rights, the impacts of cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and attacks on marginalized groups. Similar rallies were held in Brunswick, Griffin and Gainesville, among other Georgia cities.
Longtime Waffle House worker Katie Giede came out to the protest after finishing a shift, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Giede is a member of the USSW, which represents workers across the service industry in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama. Its central goal is to transform low-wage, high-turnover jobs into union jobs. She joined about a year ago.
“I don’t want my son growing up having to stand out here and fight the same fight,” Giede said, who has worked at Waffle House for 11 years. “My niece is coming out into the workforce and are coming to me with the same issues that I faced, and, it’s like, when is it going to stop?”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
In recent years, unions have made efforts at organizing workers across companies with significant footprints in Georgia in recent years, including Waffle House and Starbucks. In 2023 alone, grad students at Emory joined Workers United, truck drivers at Georgia Tech ratified its first collective bargaining agreement and roughly 1,400 employees at bus-maker Bluebird voted to unionize.
Still, less than 4% of Georgia workers are unionized, according to 2024 numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The statistic was called out by Alex Carson, a UPS worker representing Teamsters Local 728, during public remarks. He mentioned the Teamsters’ fight to unionize Amazon workers.
“There’s a lot of people that work at Amazon who want unions, but they’re scared. They’re scared because of the repression. They’re scared to lose their jobs. We have to tell them, you have nothing to lose,” Carson said. “As much as they repress us, as much as they try to intimidate us, we have the power.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Recent turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was also top of mind for several of the marchers, as was the Georgia National Guard deploying soldiers and its airmen to support President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
During her public remarks, Giede called attention to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts under the “big, beautiful bill.” The bill will cut about $186 billion from SNAP funding through 2034 and about 12% to Medicaid spending.
Trump signed the bill in July, saying he was making good on campaign promises by slashing $1.5 trillion in spending. Several Georgia Republicans supported the legislation, including U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rich McCormick and Buddy Carter.
“None of these social services are what needs to be cut,” Giede said during her remarks. “I say what needs to be cut is the ego of these millionaires. What needs to be cut are these wars that the people want no part of. We the people demand freedom, fairness, security.”
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