GREEN VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) — Hundreds of community members lined the corner of Esperanza Boulevard and La Canada Drive on Labor Day to demand greater protections for working people and push back against what they describe as the growing influence of corporations and the wealthy on American democracy.
The rally, called Workers Over Billionaires, was organized by the Democratic Club of Quail Creek, the Green Valley Democrats and Legislative District 19 Democrats, with support from We the People R Indivisible, a grassroots group that has expanded from just a few dozen members to more than 600 in the past five months.
“We’ve seen a tipping in favor of the billionaire class and massive international corporations who are really influencing more and more in our lives,” said Dave Mungo, a member of We the People R Indivisible’s organizing committee. “The policies being projected are harmful to the middle class, whether it’s in the realm of healthcare, workers’ rights or higher inflation.”
The rally coincided with national conversations about cuts to Medicaid, Social Security and education programs, policies participants said are leaving the working class behind.
However, the White House has expressed that pregnant women, children, seniors and people with disabilities will not be seeing any changes to Medicaid benefits.
For some rallygoers, the issue is deeply personal. Alice O’Connor, a Green Valley resident, said her 35-year-old daughter, who has special needs and no income, was recently removed from Medicaid after eligibility requirements changed.
“My daughter has always been on Medicaid. She was kicked off because they said she makes ‘too much money.’ But she has zero income,” O’Connor said. “Right now, my daughter has me, but what about the hundreds of thousands of other people without someone to advocate for them?”
Loren Nelson, a retired intensive care physician, expanded on what he said are damaging cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Nelson said “should be removed.”
“It’s just being totally eviscerated at this point in time,” Nelson said of the CDC. “Losing many years of experienced professionals who have done public health and health care for more than thirty years is going to take multiple years to recover.”
Organizers also highlighted the declining power of labor unions, particularly in Southern Arizona’s mining communities.
“Unions have been very supported in Southeastern Arizona,” said George McGaughey, chair of the LD19 Democrats. “But that support has been diminishing, and they’re beginning to lose their economic power because of it.”
McGaughey said that rural areas in Southern Arizona face the most devastating impacts of the Trump Administration’s budget cuts. He said the area’s five hospitals risk closing due to Medicare cuts and he thinks Medicaid cuts could be on the horizon.
Steve Teichner, a member of the Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans, condemned the recent crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), citing this as an attack on workers.
“They work, they pay taxes, they help the economy, they have kids that go to school,” Teichner said. “They’re as important to me as someone in a suit sitting behind a desk.”
Teichner is concerned about the immigrant community living in fear.
“They’re afraid to go out and workers are afraid to go to work, to go into the fields or places like meat-packing plants,” he said. “These workers are essential workers, yet they’re being targeted when they go grocery shopping or even immigration hearings.”
Sandie Stone, President of the Green Valley Democrats, said the trend of corporations and the wealthy holding outsize power started a long time ago, but appears to be accelerating.
“It certainly didn’t happen overnight,” she said. “Now with Trump trying to ruin the labor unions, they’re going to lose even more.”
The Green Valley group plans to continue its efforts by holding future rallies.
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Joel Foster is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9 who previously worked as an English teacher in both Boston and the Tucson area. Joel has experience working with web, print and video in the tech, finance, nonprofit and the public sectors. In his off-time, you might catch Joel taking part in Tucson's local comedy scene. Share your story ideas with Joel at joel.foster@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
