Around the world nearly everywhere, but the U.S. May 1st is a big deal.

It's called International Workers' Day, or May Day.

Here in the U.S. it's called Next Sunday.

In a way, the American worker last year revived International Workers' Day's American

roots.

We did create it after all.

A few years ago, we spoke with Donna Havirti Stack, a professor of history at Hunter College

at the City University of New York.

She's also the author of America's Forgotten Holiday, May Day and Nationalism, 1867 to

1960.

She began the story in 1886.

Labor unions had been fighting for the eight-hour work day for years and years, but they

only won battles, city by city.

They needed a new strategy.

This was the era of the Second Industrial Revolution, the rise of corporate capitalism.

They needed to come together, and so that was the goal for 1886.

Why did these labor unions, going for that big push, choose May 1st?

For the building trades, May 1st was the date when the annual contracts were renewed.

The goal was they began organizing in 1884, making demands, hopefully they would succeed,

and they would celebrate on May 1st, 1886.

If they did not succeed, they held out the threat of striking on May 1st, 1886, which in

many cases happened.

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