“May Day reminds us that our movement must be more than securing mere economic demands; instead, our demand should be nothing less than the complete transformation of our society.”
By Andrea Egan, UNISON General Secretary
International Workers’ Day, otherwise known as May Day, commemorates working-class struggle, but it’s more than just a day of remembrance; instead, it’s a day where we – the working-class – recommit ourselves to our historic responsibility to transform society.
The origin of May Day is found in workers’ fighting for an eight-hour working day. We can find early examples in Australia and the United States, before 300,000 people amassed in Hyde Park in 1890 to agitate for regulations of the working day. In the early Industrial Revolution, factory owners forced the emerging working-class, and their children, to labour and toil for over twelve hours a day, six days a week in the most violent workplace conditions imaginable; of course, the government aided bosses in their exploitation of the working-class with laws passed prohibiting trade-unions. Later attempts by the ruling classes to reform working hours were tepid. In the 1870s, working-class women were still expected to work 56 hours a week with only one day off. Those who gathered in Hyde Park in 1890 for an eight-hour working day knew that they would have to fight for it themselves.
However, it would be wrong to reflect on our past struggles and conclude, ‘look at how far we’ve come’; instead, our response ought to be: ‘look at how much further we have to go’; of course, today’s standards surpass those of the past. We have trade-unions, laws and regulations (and, occasionally, a political party in Parliament). But today’s working-class is still exploited, still underpaid. Right now, thirteen million people live in poverty in Britain – including four million children. Throughout the Conservative-led governments of 2010 – 2024, living standards and public services decline.
Recently in the North West, members of my union at Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital and Fairfield General Hospital have taken industrial action over pay and conditions. They are critical care workers, some of whom are forced to attend food banks. I know these incredible workers will win their dispute, and our union is behind them. It’s a reminder that trade-unionists can’t be complacent; bosses will always try to undermine our conditions – even at the cost of our health and wellbeing. The only protection against this is trade-union militancy.
May Day also reminds us that our movement must be more than securing mere economic demands; instead, our demand should be nothing less than the complete transformation of our society – one that doesn’t allow children and the families to go hungry, or force people to suffer the indignity of destitution.
It also means solidarity. At UNISON, we were outraged by the Labour Home Secretary’s recent attack on migrant care workers. Her latest cruel proposals, to force migrants to wait fifteen-years for secure, settled status, is not only immoral in and of itself, but it will damage our care system. After all, at least one-third of all care workers in the NHS are migrants. We reminded the Home Secretary of this last week, where UNISON members protested in her constituency.
What’s more, May Day is internationalist. As a labour movement, we must always stand in solidarity with working-class people who labour under oppressive regimes. As UNISON general secretary, I’m outraged by the Labour government’s complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. I was unambiguous in my election campaign that we will not support politicians who undermine our values. Aiding and abetting a genocide in Gaza is an affront to the values of the working-class movement.
The working-class movement occupies a unique place in history because we understand how our society works – how it oppresses and subjugates us – but we also have the power to change it. The forces of labour have beaten the forces of capital before and can do again. On May Day, let’s draw strength from examples our forebearers set as we demand a better future. They agitated, organised and revolted in a time when they had no representation in Parliament, no legislation to protect them, no trade-unions to assist them – only the audacious belief that they should inherit the earth.
Happy May Day to workers’ everywhere.
We will win.
- Andrea Egan is the General Secretary of UNISON, you can follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.
- You can follow UNISON on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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