5.1.26 – Celebrating International Workers Day and AANHPI Heritage Month

On this International Worker’s Day, we stand strong during a time of instability and uncertainty. 

We stand to organize, defend and serve to protect workers and advance forward-thinking policies that create equitable systems and economic opportunities for working families and their livelihoods. 

You will never convince us that workers, parents and elders who struggle to make ends meet, commute long distances and often work non-traditional hours are less deserving of basic care, social support, joy and recreation than capital-owning and billionaire classes. Everybody deserves peace, stability and economic security—starting with workers and their families. 

Our Filipino communities experience these challenges and realities daily. Filipinos constitute one of the largest diasporas in the world, with 12 million working and living abroad to earn modest means. Many face dangerous and exploitative working conditions, often minimized and impersonalized to “house help” or subservient roles. 

In the United States, home to the largest Filipino diasporic community outside of the Philippines, 1-in-4 Filipinos work on the frontlines of healthcare, while Filipinos continue to be the leading group in immigrant service members in the military. From our active partnerships to cultivate Filipino Community Health Workers (CHWs) across Silicon Valley, engage service members in San Antonio and support casino workers in Las Vegas, the service and impact of Filipinos ranging across healthcare, domestic caregiving, hospitality and service-oriented occupations is undeniable. 

Yet, our voices remain underrepresented and underprotected. 

The recent Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is another heinous step toward silencing communities like ours. This landmark decision is exactly why we organize. 

Even when our work is labeled apolitical, our lives and our labor are deeply political. 

That’s why we continue to show up, build and organize. No system will thrive based on our absence!