SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Many San Diegans will mark International Workers Day, also known as May Day, at various local gatherings.
May Day commemorates the struggles and gains made by workers in the labor movement.
Some San Diego workers’ rights organizations say local workers deserve better treatment and essentials to live in their communities.
The groups want the government to invest in social welfare and less in the military. They are also asking for more union jobs with livable wages and health care for all.
One San Diego event taking place in Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park will see over 30 different organizations in the May Day Coalition take part in a march.
The event begins with sign-ups at 4:30 p.m., and then the march at 5:45 p.m.
Labor groups have conducted rallies and protests on May 1 since 1890, originally commemorating the anniversary of the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886, when what began as a peaceful rally in Chicago's Haymarket Square in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day ended with an unknown person throwing a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the meeting, with the bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulting in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians.
Eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy in a trial their supporters called unfair and a serious miscarriage of justice. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison. Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two of the sentences to terms of life in prison while another committed suicide in jail before his scheduled execution. The other four were hanged on Nov. 11, 1887.
Illinois Gov. John Peter Altgeld pardoned the remaining defendants in 1893 and criticized the trial.
City News Service contributed to this report
