The FT Westminster blog reports that the Con Dem Government is proposing to scrap the May Day bank holiday: http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2011/02/coalition-proposes-moving-may-1-bank-holiday-to-the-autumn/
International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, when police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour workday, killing several demonstrators
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers'_Day
Back in 1978, a Labour Government introduced a secular bank holiday on the first Monday of May to mark international workers' day in response to a longstanding demand of the labour movement. This symbolic act was opposed at the time in Parliament by Tories such as Viscount Davison - 'Would he not agree that, since 1st May is Labour Day, it is possibly not the right day for a public holiday, and to the general public it seems that this Government have tried to impose their political ideology in this manner, which is not a good thing? ' - and Lord Orr-Ewing - 'My Lords, does the Minister realise that, whatever he may say, there are large sections of the public who believe that this bank holiday has very strong political connotations? Would it not have been wiser to have consulted other Parties as to what would be a suitable day and a suitable cause for celebration? Will he also bear in mind that the argument that we have fewer bank holidays is offset by the fact that the productivity in almost all other free countries is very much higher when people are working?'
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1978/may/09/may-day-public-holiday
As mining comunities can vouchsafe, no political party can match the Tories for vengeance and the only surprise is that it has taken them so long to revisit this issue.
May Day is a national holiday in over 80 countries and something we should fight to retain in Britain.
For more background see also http://www.unison-edinburgh.org.uk/news/2009/0105.html
