YUSA is pleased to host the Second Annual May Day celebration at York University. Along with members of the All Unions Coalition of York University, volunteers from groups across campus will be in Vari Hall on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 from noon to 2:00 pm to commemorate this very important day in the lives of all workers – local, national and world wide.
May Day, otherwise known as International Workers Day, celebrates the rights of workers and the gains they have struggled for and won over the past century:
• Higher wages
• Collective bargaining
• Health and safety standards
• Equal rights at work
• Decent pensions
• Paid vacations
May Day is the commemoration of the brutal Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when police fired on workers who were striking to establish the eight hour work day, killing several demonstrators. Each year, holidays are held in most countries, as workers join parades in the streets and call for social justice and equality for all.
Although the recent economic crisis was caused by bankers and other corporate elites, working people are paying for it in the form in reduced wages and attacks on pensions and other benefits. Young workers know this all too well. As unions representing workers at York University, we want to help educate students about their rights on the job.
May Day shows working people everywhere that a more socially just and democratic society is possible, and that we have a world to win.
Please drop by and visit our tables over your lunch hour to chat with volunteers from some of the various labour groups on campus that make such a valuable contribution to the York community.
