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A massive women’s protest march will lead the huge demonstrations, in Washington and around the nation, to greet — in a manner of speaking — Republican Donald Trump when he takes the presidential oath of office on Jan. 20. Unionists will be right in the middle of them.
And many of the participating organizations are already laying plans to continue the protests and the activism right through Trump’s first 100 days in office, which would extend through May Day.
The biggest plans will bring at least 155,000 women to Washington on Jan. 21 to protect the right to reproductive choice and to lambaste Trump and GOP’s opposition to it. Other protesters will denounce Trump’s record of past sexual groping and harassment of women and his anti-woman, anti-worker policy plans and Cabinet picks.
The Coalition of Labor Union Women sent out an alert to all its members on Dec. 28, telling them about the Women’s March on Washington and urging them to join it. So did the Communications Workers.
The march in D.C. and other women’s marches nationwide “will be an historic message to the new administration – THAT WE WILL NOT TURN BACK!” declared CLUW Executive Director Carol Rosenblatt in an e-mail to members (her emphasis).
Organization of the women’s march began on Facebook and has already attracted 155,000 replies. Leaders expect at least 240,000 people to rally — and they note there are sympathetic pro-women marches planned simultaneously for more than 150 cities worldwide.
“We will send a strong message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive health care, abortion services, and access to Planned Parenthood, as they intersect with the rights of young people, people of color, immigrants, and people of all faiths, backgrounds, and incomes,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood is running the logistics, safety, security, volunteers and digital promotion of the march. Buses for that protest and others will come from as far as San Francisco, according to one protesting organization, Answer.
“CLUW and the AFL-CIO and many unions and national women’s groups are involved and coordinating their members for the march and rally,” a memo from CLUW said. It reserved a block of rooms for out-of-town participants at the Amalgamated Transit Union’s Tommy Douglas conference center – the former National Labor College – in the D.C. suburbs.
“On January 21, more than 300 CWAers will be a part of a huge demonstration and march in Washington, D.C., bringing together supporters from across the country to stand together for women’s rights, safety, and families,” CWA added. “The Women’s March on Washington is expected to draw over 200,000 women for a peaceful protest of the incoming administration. We will meet at the intersection of Independence Ave. and Third St SW, near the U.S. Capitol” at 10 am.
Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte will lead the women’s march and may speak at their rally. Organizers also want to “mobilize people on a local level with familiar organizations… align regionally and nationally” to protect women’s rights, especially the right to choice. But they emphasized their march will specifically be pro-women’s rights, and not just anti-Trump.
The more than 100 “sister marches” nationwide include events in Chicago, Champaign-Urbana, Ill., St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, Minn., at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, in San Francisco, San Diego and eight other California cities, in Portland, Eugene, and four other Oregon cities, in Grand Rapids, Mich., at the United Nations in New York City and at state capitols in Juneau, Alaska, Trenton, N.J., and Honolulu, among other cities.