In many countries around the world May 1 is a holiday. Labour Day, or Workers' Day, is an international holiday that honours working men and women, and the jobs they do.
During the late 1880s, in many parts of the world, people worked for fourteen to sixteen hours a day in factories, and earned very little money. In America and Canada, people get together to make their workplace better. These groups of people formed unions (团体). The union leaders asked company directors for shorter work days and higher salaries (工资), but many of then refused to accept the ideas."
On May 1, 1886, men and women in the United States and Canada stopped work and marched through cities and towns to try andforcebosses to let them work an eight-hour day. In the city of Chicago, several people died in fights with the police.
Over the next few years, people in cities around the world stopped working every May 1 to honour workers everywhere. By the early twentieth century, the first of May was a national holiday in many countries.
However, in the United States and Canada，May 1 is not a holiday. North Americans celebrate Labour Day on the first Monday in September. Today in the Unites States, Labour Day is mostly about having fun. People enjoy a long weekend, and often celebrate by having barbecues or picnics with friends or family, In many parts of the Unites States, Labour Day is also the last day of summer vacation, and the students return to school the next day.
