International Workers’ Day 2027

International Workers' Day, on May 1, celebrates the contributions of workers and the gains won by the labour movement — including the eight-hour working day. It is marked with rallies, parades and speeches, and is a public holiday across much of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The United States and Canada celebrate their Labor Day on the first Monday of September instead.

In 1886 workers across the United States went on strike from May 1 to demand an eight-hour day. In Chicago, a rally at Haymarket Square on May 4 ended in violence after a bomb was thrown at police; several people died and labour leaders were later convicted in a trial widely criticised as unfair.

In 1889 the Second International, meeting in Paris, called for international demonstrations on May 1, 1890, in memory of the Chicago events and in support of the eight-hour day. The date has been observed by workers' movements ever since.

Many rights that workers take for granted — weekends, limits on working hours, safety rules, the right to organise — were won through decades of campaigning. May Day honours that history and highlights continuing issues such as fair pay, safe workplaces, child labour and the rights of informal and migrant workers.