Workers unite in decrying Trump at Labor Day rallies and marches

They assail deportations, anti-union actions even as he touts agenda

- BY JULIA WICK AND HOWARD BLUME

WILLIAM LIANG For The Times MEMBERS of United Teachers Los Angeles march in Wilmington on Monday.

Thousands of union members and others participated in marches, rallies and picnics on Labor Day throughout the Los Angeles region and across the country on Monday, decrying actions by the Trump administration that they say weaken unions and harm workers while strengthening and emboldening major corporations and the wealthy.

A White House proclamation Monday said President Trump's actions are "reversing decades of neglect and finally putting American Workers first" by rewriting tax laws and creating a better economic climate for businesses.

His critics say he is undermining, in historic ways, the government and labor-union infrastructure established to protect workers - and therefore hurting individual workers.

Participants at a massive Wilmington rally and parade -organized by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor united over a common foe: Trump.

"Donald Trump has gone too far," said state Sen.

Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), as she and others linked typical Labor Day rhetoric directly to immigration raids. "On this Labor Day, we have an American president who takes parents from their children and workers from their jobs."

The raids are no longer about border security, Durazo said, but "about breaking the backbone of our economy and terrorizing families." "Fighting for workers' rights means fighting for immigrant rights," said Angelica Salas, the executive director of the immigrant advocacy group CHIRLA.