From labor struggle to global celebration... The origin story of May 1st

Born from the struggle of workers to reduce daily working hours, May 1st has been celebrated as a labor and workers' day around the world for over a century.

OBJECTIONS TO WORKING HOURS SPREAD IN WAVES

In 1856, stonemasons and construction workers in Melbourne, Australia, went on strike with the demand that the intense working hours be reduced to 8 hours a day. To voice their demands, the workers marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House on April 21, 1856.

Following Australia, workers in the US also demanded a reduction in working hours from their employers in 1884. The struggle initiated in the US to reduce the daily working hours from 12 to 8 hours spread with mass strikes in 1886 and gained a global character.

DESIGNATED AS MAY 1ST

At the Paris Congress of the International Workingmen's Association in 1889, it was decided to declare one day of the year as a common holiday for workers for the purpose of solidarity. Upon the suggestion of American unionists, that day was designated as "May 1st".

Since that date, May 1st has begun to be celebrated around the world under names such as "Labor Day," "Workers' Day," and "May 1st Holiday."

FIRST MAY 1ST CELEBRATIONS

In the Ottoman Empire, May 1st was first celebrated in 1911 by tobacco, cotton, and port workers in Thessaloniki. The first celebration in Istanbul took place in 1912.

During the Republican era, it was celebrated as Labor Day in Ankara on May 1, 1922, within the framework of friendly relations with the Soviet Union. Its official celebration took place for the first time on May 1, 1923.

BLOODY MAY 1ST

During the May 1st program held in Taksim Square in 1977, 37 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured as a result of gunfire opened on the crowd during the speech of DİSK Chairman Kemal Türkler.

Using this event as a pretext, May 1st was stripped of its status as a holiday and its celebration was banned following the September 12 military coup.

May 1st, which the coup plotters removed as an official holiday, was declared an official holiday again years later in 2009 under the name "Labor and Solidarity Day" and began to be celebrated with enthusiasm.

UNIONS WILL BE IN THE SQUARES

May 1st, for which anthems have been composed, books written, and films made, also carries the quality of being the most special day when the problems and demands of employees are brought to the agenda.

As in the whole world, unions will organize programs in different cities within the scope of May 1st, which is celebrated with enthusiasm in Turkey as well.

TÜRK-İŞ, which will celebrate May 1st Labor and Solidarity Day in Istanbul's Kartal Square, will bring the problems of working life, especially income tax, to the agenda.

HAK-İŞ, which celebrated May 1st last year in Kocaeli, one of Turkey's important industrial cities, will organize a mass program in Rize this year to show solidarity with ÇAYKUR workers.

DİSK and KESK, which continue the tradition of celebrating May 1st in Istanbul jointly with various non-governmental organizations and professional associations, will be in Istanbul Kadıköy this year.

Memur-Sen and Türkiye Kamu-Sen will celebrate May 1st in separate squares in Ankara. Memur-Sen will organize a program at Anıtpark, and Türkiye Kamu-Sen will do so at Kolej Square.

HOW MANY WORKERS ARE UNIONIZED?

According to the January 2025 statistics of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security regarding the number of workers and union members in business lines, 2 million 524 thousand 547 out of 16 million 864 thousand 733 workers in Turkey are union members.

According to these figures, the unionization rate among workers is at the level of 14.97 percent.

Türk Metal Union ranks first among all labor unions with its 293 thousand 829 members.