Gath­ered at the Oil­field Work­ers Trade Union build­ing at the Para­mount Build­ing in San Fer­nan­do, Con­trac­tors and Gen­er­al Work­ers Trade Union pres­i­dent ex­pressed dis­ap­point­ment over the low num­bers as she re­mind­ed work­ers that May Day is root­ed in strug­gle and sac­ri­fice, from the fight for the eight-hour work­day to his­toric clash­es be­tween work­ers and po­lice. She stressed that the day is more than a cal­en­dar event, say­ing it re­mains a sym­bol of re­sis­tance, hope and the on­go­ing fight for de­cent wages and bet­ter work­ing con­di­tions.

Move­ment for So­cial Jus­tice pres­i­dent David Ab­du­lah al­so spoke about the low turnout of work­ers:

“If work­ers were con­scious they would come out not on­ly as com­rade chair­man said, when they’re wait­ing to see what mon­ey they’re get­ting, or if they have a trade dis­pute. Work­ers would come out when they’re con­scious, be­cause they un­der­stand at all times what is their in­ter­est. Their in­ter­est is not on­ly about their per­son­al in­di­vid­ual cir­cum­stance, their in­ter­est is the in­ter­est of the en­tire work­ing class.”