May Day

How to use this toolkit

This toolkit provides guidance and practical resources to help MTA local leaders make an action plan for May Day that meets your members where they are at.

Viewing: Toolkit Section Title

Across the country, unions and people’s organizations are planning actions and activiies an Educator Day of Action on May Day, Friday, May 1, in solidarity with International Workers’ Day.

This is an opportunity to speak out! Educators across Massachusetts are facing urgent challenges from deepening fiscal crises in our schools to rising health care costs and threats to our communities. This is chance for us to join with working people to come together to take action and demand a better future.

What is May Day? And why does it matter to public school educators?

Since 1886, May Day has been celebrated as International Workers' Day, a day when workers unite to stand up for a better world in the face of greed, war and attacks on the common good. 

In 2026, May Day matters now more than ever.

Our Victories
In Massachusetts, unions have fought to:

Raise the minimum wage.
Overhaul the education funding formula (there is more work to be done!).
Pass the Fair Share Amendment to raise billions in progressive revenue dedicated to public education and transportation.
Ensure every public school student receives free lunch.
Eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement.
And so much more.

But the work isn’t done yet.

As union members, and as educators, we’re standing up with unions across all 50 states by taking action on May Day to stand up for our profession, our students and our communities.

As union members, and as educators, we’re standing up with unions across all 50 states by taking action on May Day to stand up for our profession, our students and our communities.

At the national level, we are fighting for a real affordability agenda that addresses: universal basic needs (e.g. health care, child care), affordable housing and good jobs.

Here in Massachusetts too many of our schools are in crisis. May Day is an opportunity for our union – and its 117,000 members – to focus pressure on key decision-makers to make demands that:

Meaningfully address the fiscal crisis - particularly addressing rural aid.
Reign in runaway health care costs.
Protect our communities and students from ICE attacks.

May Day also presents an opportunity to uplift and center demands in ongoing local fights because a win in one local is a win for all locals.

Resources

The Real Affordability Agenda, published by May Day Strong, is a policy manual designed to address the nationwide affordability crisis by shifting economic power from corporations and the wealthy back to working families.

May Day 2026: Organizing for Power Adaptable slides, created by the NEA, with background and history about May Day. Good for a ten-minute meeting

May Day Strong has an expansive list of May Day events happening across Massachusetts and across the country to honor. These events will honor the workers who won the eight-hour day – and carry on that legacy forward at a time when billionaires and corporations have tilted the rules against the rest of us. The change we need has never come from standing alone; it has come when workers and communities move together.

What Action Should My Local Take?

There is a range of actions that locals can take on May Day.

Low to High Options for May Day

Wear Red for Ed

Join union siblings across your local in wearing Red for Ed (or your local association T-shirt).

Resources

Wear a Sticker or Button

Join union siblings across your local in wearing a May Day sticker/button in your school as a simple show of labor solidarity at a time when billionaires have tilted the rules against the rest of us.

Resources

Walk-in

Join union siblings across your local in wearing Red for Ed (or your local association shirt) and encourage members to walk in to work together before the start of your contractual work day.

Resources

Teach-in

Organize your colleagues to ask that your district make May 1 a day of teaching and learning in defense of public education. Work with colleagues to plan age-appropriate activities or lessons that reinforce the value of public education, civic engagement and democracy and the labor movement.

Resources

Attend a Local Rally or Action

As a local, endorse or share information about local May Day actions happening in your community or region. Consider organizing a member contingent by encouraging members to wear your local association T-shirt and planning a meeting location.

Resources

FAQ and Sample Messaging

Step-by-Step Guide: May Day Walk-in

Here is the timeline and associated materials to plan a May Day action before school.

How-to & Resources

Three Weeks Before May 1

Send an Email to Your Membership

Download a sample email.

Two Weeks Before May 1

Hold Ten-Minute Meetings

Download a sample agenda for a ten-minute meeting.

One Weeks Before May 1

Send a Email Reminding Your Members of the May 1 Walk-in
Download a sample email.

The Week of May 1

Distribute Signs to Worksites
Staff Meeting Reminders/Membership Email Reminder

The Day Before May 1

Send a Text Reminder

A Day of Collective Action

In addition to local actions across the state, bigger actions are scheduled in Cambridge and Holyoke with more to come. Join MTA members, union and community suppporters in saying: WORKERS OVER BILLIONAIRES!

Cambridge

WHAT: May Day March

WHEN: 4 p.m., Friday, May 1

WHERE: Eli Lilly, 450 Kendall Street, Cambridge

Holyoke

WHAT: May Day March

WHEN: 4:30 p.m., Friday, May 1

WHERE: Heritage State Park, Holyoke

Solidarity with Holyoke educators
ICE out of our communities
Homes for All

Downloads

MTA provides high-quality professional development and union education for members and leaders. Through in-person and online training, tools, and resources, educators gain the skills and knowledge they need to grow professionally and strengthen our union.