Oneonta Labor Day Rally To Support Workers Draws 200 People

By TERESA WINCHESTER
ONEONTA

On September 1, Labor Day, approximately 200 people showed up at Oneonta’s Muller Plaza for a “Workers Over Billionaires” rally. The principal organizer, CooperstownOneonta Indivisible, led by Virginia Kennedy of Middlefield, was joined by Butternut Valley Indivisible, Cherry Valley Indivisible and Indivisible of Schoharie County. The national sponsor, backed by the AFL-CIO, was May Day Strong, a coalition of dozens of labor and advocacy groups.

While the emphasis was on appreciation of the workers of this country, the need for strong unions, and the abuses of the billionaire class, ralliers carried signs objecting in general to the current administration and its policies: “Alexa, Change the President,” “Grow a Spine, Congress!” “Hands Off Our Healthcare!” “No Trump, No Ice, Make This World Nice!”

Kennedy opened the rally’s program with words of gratitude for workers such as nurses, teachers, construction workers, and machinists.

“Without these folks, nothing would get done, but it’s the people at the top who make the money,” she said.

Shirley Clark, chapter president of SUNY-Oneonta’s United University Professions, spoke of her current contract negotiations with New York State.

“We are under attack. The state always tries to take away things that workers have,” Clark said, declaring that she would work to retain worker’s healthcare and maintain current benefits.

Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek spoke defiantly to the money and power he feels has taken over the affairs of the nation since the 2024 election, frequently punctuating his remarks with “No!”

“We will shame the politicians, and we will threaten the prosperity of their enablers. And we will say no. No. Hell no. To the exploitation of fear, and the fanning of hatred. We will say no. No. To the corruption and the greed. To the lies, and to the meanness. To the vanity, and the incompetence. To the would-be autocracy. We will say no. No,” Drnek declared.

JayLynn Garelick of Oneonta spoke in response the Trump administration’s pause in operations for all 99 Job Corps centers across the U.S.

Unable to procure financial aid to further her studies, Garelick turned to Job Corps, a federally funded educational and career training program for low-income Americans aged 16-24. Garelick enrolled at Job Corps and completed training as a licensed practical nurse through BOCES and A.O. Fox Hospital, where she currently works as a certified nursing assistant.

Caitlyn Ogden, chair of the Otsego County Democratic Party, spoke of the need to build resistance to authoritarian government through local elections and reminded those present of OCDC’s September 27 annual fundraiser.

Debra Marcus, a founder of the Otsego Refugee Resettlement Coalition, spoke compellingly about her personal knowledge of the immigrant experience, her grandparents having been forced to leave their native Russia at the time of the pogroms—violent attacks, massacring and expulsion of Jews—in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Like her ancestors, Marcus noted, immigrants continue to come to the U.S. to escape violence and poverty and perform tasks that native-born Americans do not wish to.

Marcus then took ICE to task for “taking hard-working people with no criminal records.” She gave an account of two immigrants—one living in Oneonta and another in Cooperstown.

The former was apprehended by ICE at gunpoint, without a warrant or due process, moved to several different ICE facilities and denied release on bail. His son-in-law was also taken by ICE.

The Cooperstown immigrant had escaped Ecuador after witnessing a murder, thus marking him for death by remaining in his country. He was following proper procedures to apply for asylum in Albany when he was taken by ICE and eventually processed at a Louisiana detention center.

“With substantial help from the good people of Cooperstown and the involvement of Congressman Josh Riley, he has obtained an attorney and a trial date has been set.” Marcus said.

“We cannot let this degradation of our principles go unanswered,” Marcus concluded, urging people to combat the ills of the Trump administration by supporting newcomers in their communities, writing letters to the editor, attending rallies, registering people to vote, contacting all their elected representatives, running for elected office, and joining Indivisible.

The Oneonta rally was one of some 1,000 such events that took place on Labor Day in all 50 states. An estimated 500,000 participated in the rallies nationwide.