Union members are under attack by Donald Trump and his MAGA allies. Recently, the administration unilaterally and illegally stripped more than 400,000 federal workers of their union protections at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other federal organizations. 

These attacks on union members aren’t all the MAGA movement is up to. They’re also trying to rig elections nationwide, gerrymandering Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, and more to give Republicans more unfair advantages in politics. Union members in the East Bay are saying “Enough!” and fighting the Trump takeover, speaking up for our rights and our freedoms. We won’t let them steal the 2026 election, and we won’t let them take away our democracy.

On Saturday, thousands rallied at Lake Merritt in beautiful downtown Oakland to show that the wealthy 1% can’t buy our democracy. Speakers included Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, and SEIU 1021’s own Vice President for the East Bay Derrick Boutte, all pictured above. Also speaking were Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, Alameda Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Keith Brown, and others. 

Boutte said, “I’m here to say that 60,000 members of SEIU 1021 across Northern California are ready to speak up and fight for our democracy. Working people deserve a voice. We deserve a voice in our workplaces, in our communities, and in politics.

“This is a political emergency! Trump allies are undermining fair elections, silencing voters of color and holding entire communities hostage to push their political agenda. The fight has come to California, and we must respond with every tool at our disposal. They’re coming for us, and we will not have it! We will not allow our co-workers, our family members, our community members, to be disenfranchised. We’ve worked too hard for too long to win the rights that we have and we are not going to give them up.”