Mayday message from Scrap Trident

The Scrap Trident coalition would like to say a big thank you to all the supporters and activists who attended May Day celebrations around Scotland this weekend. The turnout in Glasgow was particularly good and it all helped to keep our message uppermost in the public mind and to remind those in power that the majority of people in this country oppose nuclear weapons:
http://scraptrident.org/may-day-2013/

March Comrades by Louis Zukofsky

Workers and farmers unite
You have nothing to lose
But your chains
The world is to win
This is May Day! May!
Your armies are veining the earth!

Quality public services for all on International Workers’ Day – 1 May 2013

“We have a responsibility to future generations to protect trade union and social rights. We must join in collective action to ensure that in the future quality public services will be available to young and old, generating social justice and equality for all,” says Rosa Pavenelli in her first May Day message as General Secretary of Public Services International. Rosa will be speaking at UNISON conference in June:
http://www.world-psi.org/en/quality-public-services-all-international-workers-day-1-may-2013

Join Cuba’s amazing May Day celebrations

Witness the sights, sounds and smells of Cuba and experience first hand the principles of equality, community and international solidarity. The Cuba Solidarity Campaign is organising two specialised trade union visits to Cuba next Spring to enjoy the iconic and unforgettable May Day celebrations and learn more about the country, its unions and the effects of the US blockade.

UNISON Young Members' May Day visit to Cuba

UNISON last month sent four delegates on a Young Trade Unionists’ May Day Brigade to Cuba. On the Cuba Solidarity Campaign blog, UNISON brigadista Lisa Scott reports on her visit: http://cubasolidaritycampaign.blogspot.com/

New vibrancy on May Day around the world

May Day events took on a new significance yesterday as trade unionists around the world took to the streets in defence of working people and the right to organise.

Mayday rallies against cuts: Newcastle and Aberdeen

Reports are coming in of MayDay rallies across the country yesterday with more major rallies planned for today. In Newcastle 600 marched through the city against the cuts as 250 miles to the north trade unionists took the same message to Aberdeen city centre.

May Day greetings to UNISON Active readers!

'This year's May Day is picking up on intensified campaigning around the country. This will be reflected in London and at events across Britain, from Ipswich to Glasgow and from Oxford to Liverpool,' writes Roger Sutton in the Morning Star in a review of the continuing relevance of the 1st of May - International Workers' Day : http://morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/103986

Into the Streets May First by Alfred Hayes

Into the streets May First!
Into the roaring Square!
Shake the midtown towers!
Shatter the downtown air!

1st of May - a stay at home day?

The fight back for union rights in the US, triggered by the attack on collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, is generating new forms of struggle. Given the constraints and hurdles presented by UK anti-union laws, it is always worth taking on board more flexible options for mass action which can impact on employers.

Hands off May Day

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/

USA heading for economic depression are we next?‏

A sustained decline of the money supply has occurred during only three business cycle contractions in recent history, each of which was severe as judged by the decline in output and rise in unemployment: 1920-1921,1929-1933, and 1937-1938. The severity of the economic decline in each of these downturns, it is widely accepted, was a consequence of the reduction in the quantity of money, particularly so for the downturn that began in 1929, when the quantity of money fell by an unprecedented one-third.

May Day: Cubans Once Again Take to the Streets and Plazas‏

As they have done every year since 1959, Cubans will gather for Mayday in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución and plazas throughout the island to support the revolutionary process in the face of the current anti-Cuban media campaign. http://www.solvision.co.cu/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1112:may-day-cubans-once-again-take-to-the-streets-and-plazas&catid=34:portada&Itemid=171

A poem for May 1: Taco Megamarch by Nephtalí‏

Hey Raza
come out of your casa
we gotta demonstrate
the sleeping giant is awake
they raid us in Chicago

Global recognition for quality public service workers this May Day‏

Public Services International, as a member of the Council of Global Unions, has endorsed the common May Day statement issued by the Council this year. This message is an important affirmation of the need to defend the role of quality public services in the rebuilding of economies and communities that have been rent by the global economic crisis, or been shattered by natural disasters.