Bay Area educators are being called into strategy mode this weekend, as United Educators of San Francisco and AFT 2121 will host a Saturday planning session on how schools and colleges can show up for May Day. Union leaders say the meeting will zero in on the role teachers and faculty can play in coordinated labor actions and in keeping campuses safe while they do it. The timing lines up with a broader surge of organizing around May 1 demonstrations focused on worker power.
United Educators of San Francisco and the City College faculty union AFT 2121 announced the session in a Facebook post, setting it for Saturday, 12:30–2:00 PM, at City College of San Francisco’s Ocean Campus. The college lists its Ocean Campus Student Success Center at 50 Frida Kahlo Way in a Morningstar event release, which coincides with CCSF’s publicly announced open house that morning. Organizers are urging Bay Area educators to arrive with concrete ideas on outreach, safety marshals, and how classrooms might plug into the plans.
What Organizers Want From Educators
Organizers are asking educators to think seriously about joining a broader May Day push, framed around the slogan no work, no school, no shopping, and to plan how campuses can safely support mass participation. In a Facebook post, UESF said participants plan to organize to resist endless war, deportations, and the erosion of democracy, language that links local school-based activity to national political demands. Similar calls and trainings for mass non-cooperation are circulating among Bay Area groups as they assemble outreach plans and safety protocols for May 1.
Why Unions Are Taking the Lead
UESF and AFT 2121 have long been visible players in Bay Area labor and political campaigns, and union leaders argue that educators bring both organizing infrastructure and daily contact with students. AFT 2121 has mobilized contingents for recent city actions and urged faculty to join mass protests, as described on the union's website. UESF, which represents SFUSD teachers and staff, has led contract fights and community outreach that organizers say can now help coordinate school-based participation for May Day.
How This Fits Into San Francisco’s May Day Playbook
May Day in San Francisco typically sees labor contingents and community groups converging on Civic Center and marching along Market Street, in step with larger regional events. This year, coalitions including DSA San Francisco have been holding trainings and mass meetings aimed at boosting turnout and sharpening tactics for noncooperation. For local context on recent strike-style actions and closures earlier this year, see previous coverage of the January Bay Area shutdown.
The Saturday planning meeting is open to Bay Area educators, and organizers are asking attendees to come prepared to talk about outreach, classroom contingency plans, and volunteer roles. For updates and union guidance as logistics develop in the run-up to May 1, educators are being directed to the websites of United Educators of San Francisco and AFT 2121.
