May Day is workers day in Australia and throughout the world since 1886. This is a time when the workers movement sums up its experiences and charts its course for the next period.
An ongoing demand in Australia, is the right to belong to a union and take industrial action to defend and progress the interests of all workers. Denial of this right has helped to drive down wages and working conditions, by weakening collective organisation.
In 2021 May Day will also involve the demands for an independent foreign policy, proper, humane, and welcoming treatment for refugees and migrants, support for Australians First Nations peoples, action on the climate crisis and more.
Take part in Melbourne’s May Day activities for 2021.
May Day events
- Thursday 29 April. Wreath Laying ceremony at the Eight Hour Day monument at 53.0pm. Corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets (opposite Trades Hall).
- Thursday 29 International Solidarity Event at 6 pm. This will be at Trades Hall.
- Sunday 2 May. The May Day March. Assemble at 1.30 pm at Trades Hall. March at 2pm and return to Trades Hall to hear more speakers.