Labour Day
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Labour day)
Labour Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from efforts of the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers.
Labour Day Parade in Toronto in the early 1900s
The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day.[citation needed]
In New Zealand, groups of workers had achieved the 8 hour working day since the beginning of organised British settlement in 1840.[1]
Labour Day around the world
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"Long Live May Day" banner at a
Mumbai rally in 2004
Most countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, known as May Day and International Workers' Day. In Europe the day has older significance as a rural festival which is predominantly more important than that of the Labour Day movement. The holiday has become internationalised and several countries hold multi-day celebrations including parades, shows and other patriotic and labour-oriented events.
- In India, 1 May is the national holiday
- In Germany, Labour Day was established as an official holiday in 1933 after the Nazi Party, or NSDAP, rose to power. It was supposed to symbolise the new-found unity between the state and the German people. However, just one day later, on May 2, 1933, all free unions were outlawed and destroyed. But since the holiday had been celebrated by German workers for many decades before the official state endorsement, the NSDAP's attempt to appropriate it left no long-term resentment.
- In Pakistan, Labour Day is a national holiday. Labour unions hold seminars and walks.
- In Poland, Labour Day May 1 was renamed "State Holiday" in 1990.
- In Slovenia, May 1 and May 2 are national holidays and work-free days throughout the country.
- In Chile, May 1 is a national holiday.
- In Croatia, May 1 is a national holiday.
- In Sweden, Finland and Norway, May 1 is a national holiday celebrated through widespread demonstrations by the entire workers' movement.
- In Italy, May 1 is national holiday, demonstrations of the trade unions are widespread. Since the '90s, the trade unions have organised a massive free concert in Rome, with attendances topping a million people.
- In Jordan, May 1 is a national holiday.
- In Denmark May 1 is celebrated through widespread demonstrations by the entire workers' movement throughout the country. There are also outdoor activities celebrating the day in many major cities.
- In Malaysia, May 1 is a national holiday.
- In Israel May 1 is not officially celebrated, but each year the socialist and Marxist youth movements arrange a parade in Tel Aviv.
- In Korea, Labour Day is a national holiday for labourers.
- In Iceland, 1 May is a national holiday.
- In Ireland, Labour Day (also called May Day) is celebrated on the first Monday in May, and is a public holiday.
- In Thailand, 1 May is a national holiday.
- In Vietnam, Labour Day is a national holiday on May 1 following another national holiday, April 30, which is the day the North and the South were unified in 1975.
- In Romania, 1 May is a national holiday.
- In Bulgaria, 1 May is a national holiday.
- In Latvia, May 1 is a national holiday.
- In Lithuania, May 1 is a national holiday.
- In Egypt, 1 May is the national holiday
- In Greece, May 1 is a state holiday. Left-wing parties invariably refer to it as a "strike" instead, organizing commemorative marches throughout the country.
- In Portugal, 1 May is a national holiday.
- In Brazil, 1 May is a national holiday.
- In Hungary, 1 May is a national holiday. There are also outdoor activities celebrating the day in many major cities.
Australia
Celebrating the Australian labour movement, the Labour Day public holiday is fixed by the various state and territory governments, and so varies considerably. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In both Victoria and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March (though the latter calls it Eight Hours Day). In Western Australia, Labour Day is the first Monday in March. In both Queensland and the Northern Territory, it is the first Monday in May.
Canada
Labour Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in Canada since the 1880s. The origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to April 14, 1872 when a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week.[2] The Toronto Trades Assembly (TTA) called its 27 unions to demonstrate in support of the Typographical Union who had been on strike since March 25.[2] George Brown, Canadian politician and editor of the Toronto Globe hit back at his striking employees, pressing police to charge the Typographical Union with "conspiracy."[2] Although the laws criminalizing union activity were outdated and had already been abolished in Great Britain, they were still on books in Canada and police arrested 24 leaders of the Typographical Union. Labour leaders decided to call another similar demonstration on September 3 to protest the arrests. Seven unions marched in Ottawa, prompting a promise by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald to repeal the "barbarous" anti-union laws.[2] Parliament passed the Trade Union Act on June 14 the following year, and soon all unions were demanding a 54-hour work-week.
The Toronto Trades and Labour Council (successor to the TTA) held similar celebrations every spring. Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was asked to speak at a labour festival in Toronto on July 22, 1882. Returning to the United States, McGuire and the Knights of Labor organized a similar parade on September 5, 1882 in New York City. On July 23, 1894, Prime Minister John Thompson and his government made Labour Day, to be held in September, an official holiday. The New York parade became an annual event that year, and in 1894 was adopted by American president Grover Cleveland to compete with International Workers' Day (May Day).
While Labour Day parades and picnics are organized by unions, many Canadians today simply regard Labour Day as the Monday of the last long weekend of summer. Non-union celebrations include picnics, fireworks displays, water activities, and public art events. Since the new school year generally starts right after Labour Day, families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer. Some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school, which traditionally begin their new year the day after.
An old custom prohibits the wearing of white after Labour Day. The explanations for this tradition range from the fact that white clothes are worse protection against cold weather in the winter to the fact that the rule was intended as a status symbol for new members of the middle class in the late 19th century and early 20th century.[3] [4]
A Labour Day tradition in Canada is the Labour Day Classic, a Canadian Football League event where rivals like Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts, and Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers play on Labour Day weekend. Before the demise of the Ottawa Renegades after the 2005 season, that team played the nearby Montreal Alouettes on Labour Day weekend. Since then, the Alouettes have played the remaining team in the league, the BC Lions.
China
Labour Day is celebrated on May 1, and is a public holiday.
In the 1990s, the Labour Day holiday was extended from 1 day to 3 days. The Chinese government made it a 7 day holiday by moving the prior and upcoming weekends together with these 3 days. The Labour Day holiday was one of the three Golden Weeks in China, allowing millions of Chinese people to travel during this period.
Starting January 1st, 2008, the People's Republic of China reduced this holiday period down to 1 day, while simultaneously reviving three traditional Chinese holidays: Dragon Boat Festival (端午节）, Tomb-Sweeping Day (清明节) , and the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节）.
India
India started observing Labour Day beginning on May 1, 1927. It is a public holiday with processions carried out by various labour organizations. In Maharashtra (a State in India) Labour Day is also known as Maharashtra Diwas as state of Maharashtra was created on same day in 1960.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, Labour Day is a public holiday held on the fourth Monday in October. Its origins are traced back to the eight-hour working day movement that arose in the newly founded Wellington colony in 1840, primarily because of carpenter Samuel Parnell's refusal to work more than eight hours a day. He encouraged other tradesmen to also only work for eight hours a day and in October 1840 a workers' meeting passed a resolution supporting the idea. On 28 October 1890, the 50th anniversary of the eight-hour day was commemorated with a parade. The event was then celebrated annually in late October as either Labour Day or Eight-Hour Demonstration Day. In 1899 government legislated that the day be a public holiday from 1900. The day was celebrated on different days in different provinces. This led to ship owners complaining that seamen were taking excessive holidays by having one Labour Day in one port then another in their next port. In 1910 the government "Mondayised" the holiday so that it would be observed on the same day throughout the nation. Nowadays for the majority of New Zealanders it's "just another holiday"[5].
The United States
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Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday of September.
The Bahamas
Labour Day is celebrated on the first Friday in June, and is a public holiday[6].
Singapore
Labour Day is celebrated on 1 May as a public holiday, 1 of the 11 public holidays in Singapore.
In Singapore, May Day is celebrated with little fanfare for the general public while the media broadcasts congratulatory and motivational speeches by the government.
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