Teachers on 5 islands march against the White Houseʻs attack on collective bargaining and union rights
Posted: May 2, 2025
More than 100 teachers across Hawaiʻi took part in protests and marches Thursday on International Workers’ Day, in solidarity with federal workers who are losing their collective bargaining and union rights.
Educators participated in protest events on five islands: in Hilo, Honolulu, Kahului, Kaunakakai, Līhuʻe and Naʻalehu.
In Washington, D.C., HSTA leaders joined a large International Workers’ Day protest.
In Honolulu, thousands of unionized employees from 24 Hawai‘i union locals and community supporters gathered at the state Capitol for a silent march to the Prince Kūhiō Federal Building, followed by a rally and speeches.
“We stand in solidarity with federal workers across the country who lost their union in the blink of an eye along with the job security, fairness, and ability to have a voice on the job that comes along with having a union,” said Leslie Lopez, interim director of the Center for Labor Education & Research (CLEAR), the group that organized the Oʻahu event.
“For generations, union members have led the way in winning fair wages, safe working conditions, and the benefits many of us take for granted today. Our silence honors the dignity of labor and calls to attention what is being stripped away – the right to be heard,” Lopez added.
Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association Vice President Logan Okita said, “HSTA is here today to join our federal union siblings in solidarity, to stand up for them, and to remind communities that our strong communities are because we have strong unions.”
Nearly 50 HSTA members and retirees attended the Honolulu event.
Ryan Tong, who chairs the Social Studies Department at Waiʻanae High said, “I think threats to labor in general, with their bargaining rights being threatened, is a threat to us all, irregardless of industry. Teamsters, Local 5, our nurses union, everybody as a working class person, our rights to go in and to negotiate for our working conditions and stand up for our families.”
Leah Joseph, a social studies teacher at King Intermediate, said taxpayers across the country are already seeing the ill effects of chaotic federal job cuts and reductions or elimination of federal programs.
“What you will find is longer wait lines, especially for Social Security. You will find longer wait lines for passports. You will find longer wait lines for a lot of things. There are phone numbers that you can call, and you wait 6 or 10 hours for somebody to call. They pick it up, and they hang up and you’re stuck calling again. That’s already happening right now,” said Joseph.
“We’re sending our tax money to our federal government, and they’re supposed to be using that to better our lives, not hinder our lives,” Joseph added.
Kahuku High literacy coach and reading workshop teacher Karin Hansen del Rey said,
“Those federal jobs that you talk about, those are the jobs that are up in our national parks and volcano, taking care of our native species that are endangered and also endemic species.”
“Without these folks, the birds of our forests could disappear. Without these folks, the beetles that come and infect our trees are going to take over. So we need them. And it’s horrifying to think that in one day they were told your job is gone. That is not okay. So we have to stand together,” added Hansen del Rey.
Verona Holder, who is a reading coach at Mililani Waena Elementary, said she participated in the silent march because “I wanted to make sure that I was here to be in solidarity with all the other unions, especially here for my teacher colleagues, I want to make sure that our voices are heard and that it is known that we are not standing here and not fighting back for things that we don’t think are appropriate and okay for our teachers and our students.”
Executive orders issued on March 7 and March 27 ended collective bargaining rights for over 750,000 employees at 19 federal agencies and departments. Those EOs may strip the union rights of as many as 12,995 Hawaiʻi workers from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Department of Veteran Affairs, the Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Justice, and others.
Since 1889, May 1 has been recognized as International Workers’ Day in commemoration of the struggles and gains made by workers in the labor movement.
