May 1st has been considered a national holiday in Brazil since 1949 and alludes to a strike that took place in the US city of Chicago in 1886. This year, the date will take place on Thursday.
Labor Day entered the official calendar from a law approved by the Senate and the House, signed by President Arthur Bernardes in 1924. According to the Federal Senate, the holiday was born with the objective of celebrating the “universal fraternity of working classes” and “labor martyrs”.
By the time the law was passed, protests were already on May 1 against exploitation at work. The demonstration that inspired this and other strikes around the world had as its main objective the reduction of daily working hours in the United States, which reached 17 hours.
In Brazil, a hundred years ago, labor rights practically existed. According to the Federal Senate, there were no laws determining registration in a portfolio, maximum working day, night additional and unhealthiness, payment of overtime, weekly rest, paid holidays, maternity leave or retirement.
Despite the serious and approval of the law that transformed the date into holiday, labor laws were only consolidated in May 1943; A marketing milestone for the change in the daily life of the worker
Check out the next 2025 holidays:
- June 19, Corpus Christi (optional point);
- June 20 (optional point);
- September 7, Independence of Brazil (National Holiday);
- October 12, Our Lady Aparecida (National Holiday);
- October 28, Federal Public Servant Day (optional point), to be celebrated on the 27th;
- November 2, All Souls (National Holiday);
- November 15, proclamation of the Republic (national holiday);
- November 20, National Zombie and Black Awareness Day (National Holiday);
- December 24, Christmas Eve (optional point after 1 pm);
- December 25, Christmas (national holiday); and
- December 31, New Year’s Eve (optional point after 1 pm).
This content was originally published on Labor Day: Understand if May 1 is a holiday or optional point on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
