International Workers’ Day (May Day) 2026

May Day is a chance for the labour movement across the world to celebrate the core values that trade unionists stand for.

1 May 2026| News

International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, is a chance for the labour movement across the world to celebrate the core values that trade unionists stand for.

May 1 is now a public holiday in many countries with marches and rallies organised in most major cities around the world (although Labour Day is celebrated on 1 September in America).

Here in Britain, it was Prime Minister, James Callaghan, who in 1978 created the bank holiday on the first Monday in May to coincide with International Workers’ Day. However, the trade union movement continue to celebrate on the 1st of May and there are May Day rallies taking place across Britain today

Why do we still need it?

Workers today continue to face threats on all fronts; the global pandemic, ongoing structural racism and the rise of the far right, ever growing inequality and the climate crisis.

We know that there are still huge injustices and inequalities to be eradicated. Too many people stuck on poverty wages, too many women denied equal pay, too many people in our ethnic minority communities whose lives are blighted by discrimination and disadvantage, too many unemployed and millions of workers, especially young workers, suffering the curse of zero hours contracts.

Tony Benn on the meaning of May Day.