The issue focused on the "right-to-work" provision in the U.S. Constitution that requires workers to pay union dues. The provision was enacted in 1947 after the labor movement's first wave of strikes and protests in the late 1920s.

A coalition of workers' rights advocates including the AFL-CIO called the rally, in the shadow of a giant statue of Rosa Parks. It is organized by United for a Democratic Party in support of the Democratic Party platform, which supports paid leave,