Jennifer Rice photo
Members from New Zealand’s Council of Trade Unions present the Haymarket Monument with a plaque at May Day celebrations in Chicago.

By Jennifer Rice
Managing Editor
Thursday, May 9, 2013
     CHICAGO — When hundreds of laboring immigrants gathered to strike and fight for an 8-hour workday at Haymarket Square 125 years ago, the international labor movement was born.
     Though workers gathered peacefully, the day ended with a bomb exploding and police bullets flying. The result was 11 people died. Arrests were made, men were found guilty, but because the “guilty” were never proven to have fired the shots or thrown the bomb, they have since become a symbol for worker solidarity and strength.
     Since the Haymarket incident, May 1 has been designated International Workers’ Day — or May Day, and the Haymarket Monument at Randolph and Des Plaines in Chicago has become a meeting place for solidarity, peace and brotherhood.
     This year, a plaque was presented by John Shennan and Roger Middlemass, representatives with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, which represents 360,000 workers and is the largest democratic organization in New Zealand.
     AFSCME Council 31 Regional Director and Illinois Labor History Society President Larry Spivack said the men and American workers are connected internationally by the common thread of dignity and organizing.
     “Shennan and Middlemass have recognized this as a spot of social and economic justice for workers everywhere. They chose us to remember labor history,” Spivack explained.
     Shennan and Middlemass said organized labor is the only way for workers of the world to stand up for their rights and have a chance to win a fair share of the worlds wealth.
     “Today, workers struggle for what they’ve always struggled for — for what the Haymarket marches died for — a better life and a fairer society,” Shennan said. “Workers should become united and focus on what gives us power — union power.
     “We want to work with you to ensure a better life for all workers of the world and to create fairer, more just societies for working families to live in,” he said.
     Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) President Jorge Ramirez added that the same problems and injustices that existed for workers 125 years ago exist now.
     “They just present themselves with a different face and in a different way, but the injustice is real,” Ramirez explained.
     As May Day festivities were winding down at the Haymarket Monument, participants prepared to join thousands of marchers who were scheduled to pass the monument.
     Earlier in the day, thousands of immigrant rights’ supporters left Chicago’s Union Park, headed to Federal Plaza for a 4:30 p.m. rally. The marchers were focused on ending deportations and demanding legalization for all immigrants — a mission of labor.
     “Those of you from labor know that comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) is the biggest game changer we have to bring more than 11 million immigrants out of the shadows and into the sunlight to let them exercise their choice — free of interference and intimidation from their employer — to decide weather or not they want to join a union,” Ramirez said.