May Day: Workers around the globe celebrate International Workers’ Day

Shea Duplechain
·4 min read
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LOUISIANA (KLFY) — On May 1, workers around the globe unite to celebrate International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, an international holiday dedicated to raising awareness for working conditions and labor rights.

Every year on May 1 workers around the world unite to advocate for fair wages, better working conditions and labor rights. In many countries, labor unions and other worker organizations typically hold parades, rallies and other events to celebrate labor victories and call for further labor improvements.

Unlike the majority of countries around the world, the United States chooses to hold it’s own version of Labor Day in September, but that still does not stop American workers from showing solidarity with workers abroad on May Day. Although May Day is not an official holiday in the United States, worker organizations and labor unions in the here have historically used May Day to as a day to organize strikes and other labor movements.

Here are a few prominent labor victories American workers have secured over the last year:

2023

  • Hollywood writers secured a new contract in 2023 after a nearly five month strike. After failing to agree to a new deal with Hollywood studios before the existing contract expired, 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America authorized a strike in May that would last 148 days. Through this mass strike, writers were able to secure a new three year contract that included basic wage increases, guaranteed A.I. protections and streaming residual increases.

  • Hollywood actors organized their own strike in solidary with the writers, as members of SAG-AFTRA went on what would become a 118 day strike starting in July. After many rounds of negotiations, the actors were able to create a new contract that included a new compensation model for streaming, outsized gains to traditional residuals, and many increases to base pay in other areas.

  • United Auto Workers members launched targeted strikes against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in which more than 30,000 workers walked off the job across 44 facilities. The strike was the result of many months of failed negotiations for a new contract. The two month strike by workers resulted in historically high wage increases for workers and a new contract through April 2028. The workers were also able to negotiate for auto plants that were previously closed to reopen.

  • UPS workers and members of the Teamsters were able to avoid a strike and renegotiate a contract in September 2023, that will last until 2028. The new contract, earned on behalf of more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters, secured overwhelmingly lucrative raises for all UPS workers.

  • Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers organized a three day strike in October 2023 that would become the largest healthcare labor dispute in U.S. history. The 75,000 nurses, ER technicians and pharmacists that participated in the walkout nationwide were able to negotiate new higher minimum wages and address staffing issues.

2024

  • Workers at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant voted to unionize in April, and became the first auto plant to unionize in the South by election since the 1940’s. Workers voted in favor of joining UAW with 73% of the ballots casted. UAW and Volkswagen are now engaging in contract negotiations.

  • Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants voted in favor of a new contract in April that includes an immediate 22% pay raise and an additional 3% raise every year until May 2028. This new contract for nearly 20,000 Southwest flight attendants now makes them the highest paid flight attendants in the industry.

  • The FTC announced rule banning non compete contracts nationwide. On April 23, the FTC announced employers will no longer be allowed to hold employees to noncompete clauses, protecting workers freedom to change jobs. The final rule will become effective 120 days after publication in the Federal Register.

  • Starbucks Workers United announced that the union and Starbucks would resume in person bargaining. For nearly two years Starbucks had been unwilling to negotiate with the Starbucks workers union. The two organizations made a joint statement in late April that they would attempt to seek a constructive path forward. Over 420 Starbucks stories across the nation have voted to unionize, including four locations in Louisiana.

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