Letter: May Day Returns To St Augustine

Letter: May Day Returns To St Augustine

Terry Buckenmeyer
St Augustine, FL

Dear Editor:

After a four year hiatus, International Workers’ Day will once again be celebrated in St. Augustine. All working people are invited to meet in front of City Hall (the Lightner Museum) at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1st.

There will be street theater followed by a workers’ rights parade around the downtown area and ending in La Plaza de la Constitucion with a Community Picnic.

May Day is a uniquely American holiday created by American working people to celebrate working people. It is now officially celebrated in over 80 countries around the world and is an unofficial holiday in as many others.

May Day was born out of a declaration by labor unions that May 1, 1886, would be the starting date of the 8-hour day and 40-hour week as the standard work week. The struggle for the 40-hour week was long, and brutal.

The next time you get paid overtime, remember that a lot of ordinary working people bled and died for the 40-hour week.