Happy May Day from Railroad Workers United!

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 1st, railroaders join millions of workers worldwide in celebrating International Workers' Day. We carry on the tradition of rank-and-file resistance that has defined Railroad Workers United since 2008: fighting Precision Scheduled Railroading, opposing long and heavy trains, demanding two-person crews, and insisting that every rail worker gets home safe and free of injury and illness.

Right now, our fight against the proposed UP-NS railroad merger is front and center. The consolidation of Class One carriers is a direct threat to rail workers, rail safety and the communities we serve. We need every railroader engaged in this fight.

In the United States and Canada, the "official" holiday for workers is Labor Day in September. After the Haymarket Incident in Chicago, U.S. President Grover Cleveland "feared" that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 would become an opportunity to commemorate Haymarket and radical worker struggle. Thus, he pushed for U.S. Labor Day to be the first Monday in September.

In the United States, efforts to officially switch Labor Day back to the May 1st have been unsuccessful. However, a number of unions and locals — especially in urban areas with strong support for organized labor — have maintained a connection with labor traditions through their own "unofficial" observances on May 1.