On May 1, 2025, millions of workers took to the streets in cities such as Mexico City, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Paris, Seoul and Bogota. Banners, megaphones and slogans repeated old and new demands: better wages, shorter working hours, social protection, trade union rights. It was a day of global mobilization for labor.
But not in the United States.

While the rest of the world commemorated International Labor Day, in the United States it was Thursday. Just any Thursday. How is it possible that the country of the big corporations, of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, does not celebrate the day that was born precisely because of a strike on its own soil?

American origin

May Day originated in Chicago in 1886. On that day, a national strike for the eight-hour day began. Days later, the protest ended in a massacre: policemen shot at the demonstrators and several union leaders were executed. The episode became known as the Haymarket Riot, and was a turning point in the history of the global labor movement.

Paradoxically, while that date became a worldwide symbol of the labor struggle, the United States took another path. In 1894, under pressure from the growing power of the unions, President Grover Cleveland proclaimed Labor Day, but placed it in September to avoid being associated with the socialist and anarchist movements of May Day.

Since then, the country has celebrated labor...but not Labor Day.

An awkward date for Washington

The distance between the United States and May Day is not just a calendar quirk. It also reflects an ideological stance. During the 20th century, in the midst of the Cold War, the date was seen as a communist celebration. Even today, with a weakened trade unionism and a dominant business culture, many sectors of political and economic power view with suspicion any attempt to reclaim May Day.

And yet, the contradictions are plain to see. In this country where people talk about the "American dream" and the power of hard work, the reality shows a growing precariousness: workers without health insurance, low-wage jobs, essential immigrants without rights. Many of them, by the way, Latinos.

What about Latinos in the U.S.?

For Latin American immigrants, May Day does not go unnoticed. Many know what the date means in their countries of origin. And some groups have turned it into a day of protest for labor and immigration rights. This was the case, for example, of the massive "Day Without Immigrants" in 2006. This year, there were also marches in cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, although far from the global visibility of mobilizations in other parts of the world.

The distance between the United States and May Day is more than symbolic: it speaks to the kind of relationship the country has with its working class. But in a context of debates over the minimum wage, the right to unionize in large companies, and the rise of populist discourse - left and right - among disgruntled workers, perhaps the question is not whether the country will celebrate May Day... but when.