BOISE, Idaho — Protesters gathered outside the Idaho State Capitol on Labor Day to demand better working conditions and worker protections, with an independent gubernatorial candidate joining in solidarity.
The Boise protest, organized locally by Idaho 50501 as part of a nationwide movement, pushed for better rights and protections for the working class.
Maxine Durand, an independent candidate for Idaho governor, said this movement hits close to home, reflecting her family's labor roots.
WATCH: How gubernatorial candidate plans to support Idaho workers —
“This is about taking back some of that time and bringing awareness to the rights of the working class,” Durand said. “My family would not have been able to get out of poverty without the labor unions.”
Her campaign includes policies like college and Medicare for all, and a minimum wage hike to $15 an hour.
"Then, going forward, have a step rate increase over time tied to the consumer price index, and tied to the rate of inflation year over year,” Durand said. “That way, even though you're raising the minimum wage once, it continues to raise automatically over time.”
Durand believes this wage increase is a basic right that Idahoans deserve.
"They're not lazy, they're working full time, sometimes multiple full-time jobs just to put food on the table,” Durand said. “They are continuously seeing the price of the American dream get further and further out of reach.”
Protesters said it's time for the American dream to catch up with the standards for many workers abroad.
“Other countries, if you have a baby, you just have maybe three months off paid,” protester Aredella Percy said.
"To fund work rights type of movements, such as paid vacation in Sweden, every worker, from a gas station worker to a doctor, has five weeks paid vacation each year," protester Angela Dahlin said.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
