… You Say ‘Power’

Story and Photos by MIKE LEE

In what was among the largest protests in New York City since President Donald Trump’s Jan. 2025 inauguration, DC 37 members and activists joined several thousand demonstrators on Aug. 29 for the March on Wall Street.

The march was sponsored by the National Action Network and included progressive groups and several of New York’s major labor unions. DC 37 and its national union, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), showed force in a sea of green T-shirts.

DC 37 members gathered early at 125 Barclay to prepare for the march.

In his remarks at the union hall, AFSCME President Lee Saunders outlined the union’s priorities in taking to the streets to protest the Trump administration’s priorities and Wall Street’s response in adopting anti-DEI policies.

“They don’t care about unions; they’re trying to destroy us,” said Saunders, who served as DC 37’s Administrator from 1999 to 2002. “We cannot take this attack lightly because it is real.”

Saunders also spoke at the rally in the Financial District, emphasizing that unions will stand up against the attacks on public workers and the billionaire bankers who benefit from their silence.

“Wall Street has been complicit in the Trump administration’s attacks on workers from day one,” Saunders said.

Among the DC 37 members who participated in the March on Wall Street was Local 1549 member Chandra Smith, who spoke about why she was at the rally.

“We are here to make sure that we get the word out and that we get the right officials elected so we can counterattack the cuts that are threatening our members,” Smith said. “We want to make sure we keep the benefits we have.”