Wolverhampton May Day

Details for Wolverhampton May Day are now listed on the May Day tab. 
Is your trades council organising a May Day or Workers Memorial Day event? Let us know at midlands@tuc.org.uk and we will put it on the blog.

Moving May Day could hit retailers and domestic tourism, warns TUC



Moving May Day could hit retailers, break established holiday patterns and disrupt domestic tourism, the TUC warns today (Thursday) in its submission to the government’s pre-consultation on moving the May Day bank holiday as part of the domestic tourism strategy. The TUC submission says that May Day is one of the oldest British celebrations, dating back at least as early as 365 AD. It also marks the formation of Great Britain (1 May 1707) and International Workers’ Day since 1891 – the latter a bone of contention for some Conservative MPs.
May Day is associated with a large number of tourism-related events, including many outdoor activities across the UK due to the (generally) good weather, and is the busiest trading day of the year for garden centres and horticulture related businesses.
The TUC submission warns that moving May Day to late Autumn could threaten many of these outdoor activities, hit retailers and encourage holiday breaks abroad at the expense of the domestic tourism industry.
The submission highlights crucial problems with some of the alternative dates suggested for May Day:
• St. Georges Day (23 April) is just a week before May Day, so there will be little change in terms of activities, and it can clash with Easter, creating an administrative headache for employers.
• The celebration of Trafalgar Day (21 October) was abandoned in 1918 due to public revulsion towards the glorification of war.
• Turning Armistice Day (11 November) – a well-established and sombre day of remembrance of the war dead – into a bank holiday would distract from the importance of the day and could cause great offence, particularly if it becomes a day of celebration.
The lack of any strong support from the tourist industry for moving May Day suggests that the proposal is more about pleasing a few Conservative backbenchers who ignorantly assume it to be a ‘socialist holiday’, rather than a real attempt to boost the UK domestic tourism industry or improve people’s work-life balance, says the TUC.
The submission says that the government’s time would be better spent examining the wellbeing of UK employees who work among the longest hours in Europe and have the stingiest allocation of public holidays.
Creating a new day off in late October – focused on volunteering and community work – would be a much better way to generate health, social and economic benefits from our calendar of public holidays, says the TUC.
The TUC, along with the UK’s leading volunteering organisations, is calling on the government on the introduce a Community Day bank holiday in late October from 2013 that would be based around the celebration and encouragement of volunteering and community work.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “There’s not much of a case for moving May Day, other than satisfying the grudges of a few Tory backbenchers, but there are many problems that moving it would create.
“May Day is an important day for the domestic retail, tourism and entertainment industries and moving it to late Autumn could threaten all this.
“Ministers would be wise not to mess around with a popular public holiday that enjoys a wide range of support – from trade unionists to gardening enthusiasts. Instead, they should examine the wellbeing and ‘big society’ benefits of creating a new bank holiday.
“Given that UK employees work some of the longest hours in Europe and have the fewest bank holidays, an extra public holiday is long overdue.”

Don’t mess with May Day, says TUC

Banners at Chesterfield May Day rally.


Commenting on government proposals published today (Thursday) to move May Day from May to October, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said:  “From trade unionists and holidaymakers to Morris dancers and horticulturists, British people have been celebrating May Day for centuries.  “It makes no sense to mess around with an established bank holiday that workers and businesses have built their schedules around. “Rather than shifting the deck chairs, the government should instead end the UK’s embarrassing honour of having the fewest public holidays in Europe.  “A new bank holiday in late October – focused on community work and volunteering – would give the country a huge boost and help break the four month slog between the August and Christmas breaks.”
The TUC is encouraging people who want to keep May Day to register their comments at the government’s consultation webpage – www.culture.gov.uk/consultations/8068.aspx – and to join the debate on twitter with the hastags #keepmayday and #bankhol.
The economic case for a new bank holiday is made in the TUC report Why the UK can afford a Community Day, available at www.tuc.org.uk/extras/bankholidaybusinesscase.pdf

May Day and Workers Memorial Day

Keep checking the pages for May Day and Workers Memorial Day listings, events at Lincoln and Chesterfield have been added today.......

New listings for May Day and Workers Memorial Day

We have two new listings for May Day and Workers Memorial Day events, click on the tabs above for deatils of  Coventry and Corby events.

May Day, May Day

Derby Trades Union Council banner at the head of the
2010 Silk Mill march in Derby.

Across the Midlands our trades union councils are planning their May Day and Workers Memorial Day events. We shall be listing these on the blog, so if your event is not there - it is because we don't know about it yet. Email aweaver@tuc.org.uk and I will post an entry so we have an up to date list for all visitors.