The adoption of this day began as a holiday that the world celebrates every year in 1856, after the construction workers in Melbourne and Sydney (then known as the Eight Hour Movement) succeeded in achieving their demands to reduce working hours to 8 hours per day.
On the first day of the month of May, the world celebrates International Labor Day, an annual event dating back to the nineteenth century and is held in honor of the contributions of more than three and a half billion workers who struggle throughout the year.
The date of this occasion
The beginning was from Australia, which is the first country to celebrate this occasion on April 21 of the year 1856, and then moved to the United States of America after about 30 years and the rest of the world, becoming an official holiday in more than 100 countries.
The adoption of this day began as a holiday that the world celebrates every year, in 1856, after construction workers in Melbourne and Sydney (then known as the Eight Hour Movement) succeeded in achieving their demands to reduce working hours to 8 hours per day.
This success later became an incentive for millions of workers who took the “Australian workers” as a role model and decided to revolt and revolution to improve their conditions from raising wages to reducing working hours, especially in the United States.
In 1886, the American unions called for a strike on May 1, to demand a reduction in working hours to eight hours. At that time, more than 300 thousand workers responded to the call, who left their workplaces in the factories in which they work in various parts of the country.
An important moment for unions
This day represents an important moment for the unions, which are keen to take advantage of the occasion to demand better conditions for workers and an increase in their salaries.
And there are mass marches and demonstrations in which millions participate, raising slogans about wages and prices, and the working class in various parts of the world, and highlighting the demands of workers and improving their conditions, which remain a matter of dispute between them and employers from governments to employers.
traditional ceremonies or demonstrations
In most European countries, with a few exceptions, this occasion is considered a public holiday. Few countries do not celebrate this occasion, including the Netherlands, Israel and some countries in the Persian Gulf.
Labor Day in the United Kingdom and Ireland is traditionally seen as saying goodbye to spring and welcoming summer.
In France, this occasion was celebrated by distributing white flowers known as the “May Rose” during this day, but the situation is somewhat different this year, as unions are preparing to celebrate a “historic” day for Labor Day and expect up to 1.5 workers to fall. One million people took to the streets to continue protesting the pension reform approved by President Emmanuel Macron.
This year, Labor Day will be the thirteenth day of sweeping national action against a controversial pension reform that has met with widespread opposition from various segments of French society.
In Italy, as usual, Rome’s San Giovanni neighborhood, Piazza San Giovanni, is set to host a union concert, attracting some of Italy’s biggest pop stars.
Sri Lanka celebrates this holiday on the seventh of May, while New Zealand celebrates it on the twenty-eighth of October, that is, on the fourth Monday of October.
In Japan, Afghanistan and Iran, this day is celebrated on the first of May, but without the workers having a day off, while the celebration is very organized in Iran.
Although countries such as Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan celebrate this holiday and allocate an official holiday for it, the authorities prevent the organization of demonstrations on this occasion.
Istanbul has witnessed since 2013, despite the ban on organizing demonstrations and vigils in the famous Taksim Square.
