We often complain about working conditions and hours but have you ever stopped to think who was the first to stand up for us, to question our conditions… and did you know we had to battle to work eight hours a day! Imagine how long our days were before?
International Worker’s Day is on May 1st and is a bank holiday in Spain. This day is widely recognized and highly political, with many rallies and demonstrations fighting for improvements and changes in workers rights.
This day dates back to 1886 in Chicago. A peaceful protest ended in a fatal disaster on Haymarket Square. A labour rally went out to protest for an 8 hour working day, when police arrived to disperse the crowd, an unidentified bomb went off and killed 7 police officers and at least 4 civilians. This day went down in history as a controversial milestone which marked the labour rights movements. However, it wasn’t until 1890, when the Second International, a labour alliance, declared May 1st as the global Workers’ Rights Day.
In Spain, the history is similar. After the Haymarket disaster, in 1890 one of the first labour rallies was held in Barcelona which fought for a shorter working day (8 hours) and improved working conditions. A major date in the Spanish calendar was in 1919, during the strike ‘La Canadiense’ which forced the government to take action after half of Barcelona shut down. This led to Spain becoming one of the first countries to shorten the working day to 8 hours. At this point in history, May 1st was a day for manifestation, not a holiday. During the years of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, International Workers’ Day was cancelled and replaced with a state-controlled ‘holiday’.
Nowadays, this day is perceived in different ways: the UK is very focused on the arrival of Spring and dancing around poles and ribbons, commonly known as May Day.
However, in Spain it remains quite political. There are rallies held in big cities such as Madrid and Barcelona as well as ‘smaller’ ones like Sevilla or Malaga. They tend to be focused on improvements within the workplace, such as the gender pay gap and the loss and lack of certain jobs as we are slowly being replaced by technology. This year, at least in the United States, the theme of the rallies will be ‘Workers over Billionaires’.
An important fact for people or visitors in Spain, although it is a political day, many people do take it as a holiday and day-off. Supermarkets, shops and many establishments will be shut all day. Many workers will benefit from a puente- A three day weekend!
It is always fun to have a long rest and a day-trip but it is important to remember our history and be aware of the benefits we get to enjoy thanks to others who fought for our rights and for our voices to be heard.
We chatted about this topic on our recent episode of Good Morning Spain.
