This Wednesday, May 1, 2024, is marked by Labor Day. At the call of the inter-union, a demonstration is held in the streets of Saint-Denis. The demonstrators are mobilizing to defend the purchasing power of Reunion Islanders, to defend social achievements, for employment and for peace in Palestine and Ukraine. For its part, the CFDT is organizing a picnic at Colosse Park, in Saint-André.
Annaëlle Dorressamy / Nadia Lataste-Tayama / Florent Marot / Adjaya Hoarau / Erwann Ponnet • Published on May 1, 2024 at 10:56 a.m., updated on May 1, 2024 at 7:06 p.m.
It’s Labor Day. In France, the Ministry of the Interior announces 270 gatherings in the territory. Between 120,000 and 150,000 people are expected in the streets. On our island, only one parade is planned in Saint-Denis by seven union organizations.
A parade for peace and once morest austerity: it is under good auspices that the day of the inter-union begins, which called on the population of Reunion to take to the streets of Saint-Denis.
The CGTR, the FSU, FO, the Unsa, Solidaires, the SAIPER and the Student Union 974 come together for a demonstration organized to defend the purchasing power of Reunionese households, employment and social achievements. They also demonstrate once morest the breakdown of public services and for peace, particularly in Palestine and Ukraine.
The CFDT did not join the inter-union movement and decided to have a picnic at Colosse Park, in Saint-André.
The meeting was at 9 a.m. at the Jardin de l’Etat in Saint-Denis, but it was at 10 a.m. that the demonstrators began to stroll through the streets towards the prefecture.
Watch the report from Réunion La 1ère:
Labor Day: the traditional May 1 parade from the State Garden to the prefecture
Labor Day: parade and picnic for peace, purchasing power, employment and social gains • ©Nadia Lataste-Tayama
“Work Réyoné sanm Palestinyin kosté ansanm kont kolonyalism, kapitalism, rasism”, “No to the Israel-Gaza war!”, “The famous American boxer Ryan Garcia donates 20 million dollars for the children of Gaza”are some of the strong slogans affixed to the demonstrators’ signs.
Labor Day: parade and picnic for peace, purchasing power, employment and social gains • ©Nadia Lataste-Tayama
Unions have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and Ukraine. For the general secretary of the CGTR, conflicts in Europe and the Middle East enrich the richest and impoverish the employed.
People must understand that the billions we are putting into this (editor’s note in the war) are so that those who are rich become even richer. It’s just a question of money, while people here and elsewhere are dying. Here, at Air Austral, salaries must be reduced. Everything is done to eliminate us.
Jacky Balmine, general secretary of the CGTR
“Our taxes and contributions not for: war, drinking and Macron’s friends. Our taxes and contributions for solidarity: hospitals / Ime (editor’s medical-educational institute), Education, pensions, unemployment”wrote the Force Ouvrière union in large letters on its demand panels.
Labor Day: parade and picnic for peace, purchasing power, employment and social gains • ©Nadia Lataste-Tayama
“School in danger! No systematic inclusion. Inclusive school. No to the clash of knowledge”we can still read on the back of the demonstrators’ t-shirts.
Among the main demands, the inter-union also points to the indexation of salaries to the cost of living in Reunion.
Another essential point for the inter-union, the reform of unemployment insurance, whose new compensation rules for job seekers will be enacted from July 1.
On this Wednesday, May 1, workers are no exception to tradition. The CFDT did not take part in the parade. She prefers to bring together her members and their families at Colosse Park, in Saint-André.
The CFDT remains alone. However, she does not isolate herself, wants to reassure Joël Dalleau, her secretary general.
The CFDT does not stand alone. The CFDT continues and resumes its sharing picnic that it used to do 6 or 7 years ago. We are resuming a rhythm between activists and family members. We are not marching, because there is a strong demand from members to get together in a friendly way. May 1st, for us, is best spent with family, with a good traditional picnic.
Joël Dalleau, general secretary, CFDT
The CFDT organizes a picnic at Colosse Park • ©Adjaya Hoarau
Listen to the interview with Emmanuel Fontaine, deputy secretary of the CFDT Réunion on the microphone of Adjaya Hoarau:
Interview with Emmanuel Fontaine, deputy secretary of the CFDT Réunion
The 14 branches of the CFDT are present at Colosse Park. Families arrive little by little, with their folding chairs under their arms.
On the plates this followingnoon, barbecue, chicken and fish skewers. There is something for every taste. The activists and their families will be at the Colosse until the end of the day.
The atmosphere is great, with entertainment on the stages of the Colosse. A DJ, fonnkèr and maloya punctuate this symbolic day.
The CFDT is organizing a sharing picnic at the Parc du Colosse in Saint-André • ©Adjaya Hoarau The CFDT is organizing a sharing picnic at the Parc du Colosse in Saint-André • ©Adjaya Hoarau
In total, 1,500 people are expected at Colosse Park on May 1st.
May 1st is a social tradition that dates back to the 19th century. It was in 1889 that May 1 became a day of demands, and in particular of demonstrations, in France.
On the occasion of the centenary of the French Revolution, it was Jules Guesde who decided to make May 1 a day to demand an eight-hour working day.
Thus, in 1890, a first parade of workers took place for this demand. The latter wear a red triangle in their buttonhole. The three sides of the triangle represent the 24 hours of a day. In other words, one side for eight hours of work, one side for eight hours of sleep and the last side for eight hours of leisure.
In 1891, workers mobilized once once more in the town of Fourmies, located in the North of France. But the day turns into tragedy. Indeed, despite employer bans, strikers are marching in this textile city of the North.
Army troops shoot at protesters. In total, around ten demonstrators died.
28 years later, in 1919, Parliament finally voted to reduce working hours to eight hours a day. May 1st then becomes a non-working day.
Then, under the Vichy regime, from 1940 to 1944, May 1 became a public holiday. It’s here “Labour and Social Harmony Day”. During the Liberation and therefore the return of the Republic, this day disappeared before being reinstated in 1948. But this time, May 1st is a public holiday, non-working and paid.
May 1st is celebrated all over the world, particularly in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.