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| ATUC May Day Rally, Aberdeen 2025 |
International Workers Day (May Day) is the time each year when we celebrate the links between workers across our world.
International Workers Day was established in July 1889 at a worldwide meeting of Trade Union and Labour Federations in Paris. It was agreed to hold the first International Workers Day on 1st May 1890 in recognition of the launch of the campaign for an eight hour working day on 1st May 1986 by American Trade Unionists which suffered a major violent reaction by the bosses including the killing and imprisonment of workers who went on strike to achieve their demands.
There was also a major miscarriage of justice with the execution of four workers who were falsely accused of killing police officers in a bomb attack in Chicago. The international Trade Union movement since has been demonstrating each year on May Day so this is the 135th anniversary of Aberdeen TUC’s annual May Day March.
The theme of our May Day march and rally event this year is Workers Rights and Human Rights and this has never been more important. The fundamental message of May Day is for peace, prosperity and friendship between workers of all backgrounds and nationalities and this is needed more strongly now than ever before.
The ATUC strives for unity and solidarity between workers and this is absolutely critical, especially given the wars being raged in many countries around our world.
It is for this reason that we offer support to all refugees fleeing war in their own countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and Sudan.
The ATUC fully supports the International Solidarity and boycott campaign work of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee activists in Aberdeen against the Apartheid Israeli government who continue with their war crime of Genocide committed against innocent adults and children in Palestine. The only war that should exist is a war on inequality, hatred , poverty and ill health.
In Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire workers & their families, social security benefit claimants and pensioners also face an intensifying cost-of-living crisis in addition to severe cuts in our public services and our NHS. Energy bills are now rising much faster than workers wages. We are witnessing increased levels of poverty and hardship because the super rich are getting richer at the expense of workers, benefit claimants and pensioners.
The scandal of Aberdeen City Council threatening its employees with fire and rehire underlines why we need major changes in employment laws that support and protect workers rights.
This is why the Aberdeen TUC will always provide its support and solidarity to workers in dispute with their employers and to all those fighting any form of injustice in their workplaces or in their communities whether that be in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire or elsewhere in our world.
Nelson Mandela had this to say:
“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest. Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is created by humans and therefore can be removed by the actions of human beings.”Various speakers were at the event, you can see recordings of them on our Facebook page:
