May Day (May 1^st) is about the historic struggle for an eight hour work day that culminated in an 1886 protest in Haymarket Square in Chicago.

Today, many workers still struggle for an eight hour work day and workers worldwide are engaged in battles to defend their rights against corporate globalization.

There is no one definition of “globalization” or the “corporate agenda,” but we know globalization is about how large corporations and their friends in government give themselves more power with less responsibility while they give less power, fewer resources and more responsibilities to working families.

The corporate agenda: private and public sector bargaining

As the CAW says, the auto industry crisis is due to an unprecedented collapse in sales, yet the Conservative government is now trying to tie auto industry assistance to union concessions in bargaining. Economically, it makes no sense, because cheaper labour costs won’t sell more cars.

So why are the Conservatives attacking the auto workers’ union? And why won’t they talk about how Canada's universal health care system and other public services are so valuable to large auto corporations?

It’s because their motives are political, not economic. And we can expect the government’s attacks on both the private and public sectors to become even more brazen and bold in the future.

Postal workers know that any attempts to privatize or deregulate our public post office will be a politically-motivated economic disaster for working families. After all, the post office is a public sector success story. We also know that our struggle to maintain a universal public post office and to achieve universal childcare is part of a larger struggle for economic justice for both private and public sector workers.

May Day activities in your community

May Day is a chance for private and public sector workers to challenge the corporate and government power-plays that aren’t fair to the working families who built our communities. And it’s a chance for CUPW members to show that we are part of a larger movement to create a better work-life balance for workers.

The Haymarket Square protest in 1886 took place in the midst of a general strike. Sometimes that’s what it takes to keep and gain workers’ rights.