The tradition of marking May Day as an international day of workers' struggle began in Australia as early as 1856 in the effort to win the eight-hour workday. Australian unionists were the first to win the eight-hour day, beginning with stone masons in Sydney. By 1858, the eight-hour day had been won in the building industry in Victoria and NSW.
US workers were the next to take up the struggle for the shorter working day. In 1886 the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions set May 1 as the deadline for putting the eight-hour day into effect.
On May 1 that year there was a massive strike wave across the USA. Although defeated, the strike firmly established the demand.
May 1, 1890, was set by the American Federation of Labor as the date to resume struggle for the eight-hour day. The day was adopted by the newly formed Second International as an international day for collective action for shorter working hours.
In the USA and elsewhere, strikes and demonstrations were held. This elevated May Day into an international workers' holiday celebrated by the labour movement everywhere. May Day has continued as an important symbol in the struggle for shorter hours and workers' rights internationally.
In Australia on May Day 1994, the struggle for shorter working hours with no loss in pay is a vital issue. After 11 years of the Accord, workers are confronted with the prospect of longer working hours and lower pay in all industries.
Whether it's provisions for 12-hour shifts, cuts to penalty rates or enterprise bargaining trade-offs of hours for small pay rises, hours and conditions are now continually under attack. To protect and increase the profits of employers, the federal Labor government is undermining hard-won conditions. The youth "training" wage is simply the latest of a long list of attacks.
Only politically independent trade unions can defend and extend the rights and conditions of working people. Tied to the ALP government, the trade union movement can do little to stem the tide.
This is the greatest lesson of May Day that we must struggle to preserve and defend in 1994. Independent struggle by working people in their own interest can achieve change. The role for the left is to organise this struggle.
[Graham Matthews is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party National Executive.]