FOR more than a century, May 1 has been celebrated as “Araw ng mga Manggagawa.” The first Philippine Labor Day celebration was in 1903, when Filipino workers protested against “American capitalism and imperialism” — a recurring theme that underpinned countless labor marches since then. These occurrences, peaceful or otherwise, produced results: enactment of the 8-hour day work, weekly days off, safe working environment and the right to collective bargaining agreements.

The origin of Labor Day is undetermined, but certain dates have been commemorated. May 4, 1886 was one such in Haymarket Square in Chicago where a peaceful protest in support of workers’ demand for an 8-hour workday turned violent, resulting in the deaths of police officers and injury to dozens of civilians. It will be recalled that the industrial revolution that started in Great Britain had the workingmen and even children working from 12 hours or more a day.

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