Happy May Day! Also known as International Workers’ Day (or Labour Day in many countries outside the U.S.), May 1st is celebrated by workers and unions around the world in honor of the Haymarket affair. As we noted yesterday, the tradition will continue in force today. Organized labor and immigration groups are set to protest throughout the country, especially the Bay Area, according to the Los Angeles Times. Today too marks the last day of the contract of the Writers Guild of America, meaning strikes could begin as soon as tomorrow.

Michael Grabell in the New Yorker has a lengthy feature on immigrant worker exploitation at Case Farms’ chicken plant. One of “most dangerous workplaces in America,” the plant recruits immigrants “who endure harsh and at times illegal conditions that few Americans would put up with.” Workers, however, find themselves in a bind when complaining about conditions and injuries as harsh immigration law penalties loom over them. And when workers successfully bring cases in front of the NLRB or other authorities, they often receive few actual remedies. Instead of fixing its labor conditions, however, Case Farms is hoping to get rid of them altogether—with automatic chicken deboners.

The U.K. House of Commons Work and Pension Committee just published a damning report on self-employment and the gig economy [PDF]. The report accuses companies like Uber and Amazon of avoiding paying taxes and “free-riding on the welfare state” by classifying workers as “self-employed,” and “rebuffs their claims to be providing flexibility for workers,” according to the Guardian. The report concludes that drivers should be by default assumed to have “worker” status, giving them more labor protections while still affording them plenty of flexibility.