With International Workers Day — also known as May Day — coming up on Thursday, May 1, the Thurston-Lewis-Mason Central Labor Council is celebrating the world-wide labor day with two upcoming events this week in Olympia, according to a news release.
“Salt of the Earth” screening
The first event is a screening of the 1954 Michael Wilson film “Salt of the Earth,” which will be shown at the Capitol Theater, located at 206 Fifth Ave. SE in Olympia.
Free to attend, doors for the screening open at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, with the film beginning at 7 p.m.
“Salt of the Earth” dramatizes an actual labor strike carried out by Mexican-American miners concerned about unsafe working conditions while working in the Empire Zinc Mine in Silver City, New Mexico, from 1950 to 1952. In the film, the company is identified as “Delaware Zinc,” which is carrying out mining operations in “Zinc Town, New Mexico.”
“Released during the height of the McCarthy era, the film was suppressed for decades — but it has since been acknowledged as ‘one of the most important and controversial films in American cinema history,’ and chosen by the Library of Congress to be one of 100 films to be preserved for posterity,” the release stated.
Following the film, a discussion about the labor issues raised in the film, along with local immigration justice issues, will be held. It will be led by Migrant Education Project nurse Cecilia Pérez, Labor Notes labor climate organizer Jorge Torres, Evergreen State College professor Peter Bohmer and historian and writer Dr. Natasha Varner.
All Labor March
On Saturday, May 3, the Thurston-Lewis-Mason Central Labor Council will host an All Labor March starting at noon, according to the release.
Marchers are encouraged to wear their “union colors.” The march will begin at the Tivoli Fountain on state Capitol grounds in Olympia, located at 103 Capitol Way S.
“The Central Labor Council will keep the May Day spirit alive … with an All Labor March in Olympia for single-payer health care, immigrant rights and essential public service,” the release added.
For more information about the march, contact Thurston-Lewis-Mason Central Labor Council President Rachelle Martin at president@tlmlabor.org or 360-261-2090.
The Thurston-Lewis-Mason Central Labor Council is a labor organization affiliated with both the Washington State Labor Council and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
To learn more, visit its website at https://www.tlmlabor.org/.
