Saturday 4th May 2019
Sheffield Trades Council is organising a May Day rally and festival in Sheffield this year – for the first time for 20?/30? Years!! (We won’t be clashing with Chesterfield’s highly successful annual event which is on Bank Halliday Monday).
We can’t do this on our own, nor do we want to. This must be a joint effort with the wider labour and trade union movement. We are delighted that Sheffield Labour Party branches, trade unions, various campaign bodies and left organisations are joining us to help plan and organise the day’s events. There’ll be a cost to this too so we will be appealing for donations, so please do ask your organisation to help out.
The plan so far……
May Day march and rally
12 noon assemble Devonshire Green
City centre march (route to be determined)
University of Sheffield Latin America Samba Band – confirmed
1300hrs May Day Rally on City Hall steps, Barker Pool (reserved with City Hall)
Speakers: Len McCluskey UNITE General Secretary – confirmed
Rebecca Long-Bailey MP Shadow Cabinet – confirmed
Olivia Blake –Labour PPC Sheffield Hallam – confirmed
Taiba Yasseen – Rotherham Muslim female councillor – confirmed
Speaker from Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign – to be confirmed
BFAWU speaker and Macdonald’s striker – to be confirmed
Sheffield Socialist Choir – to be confirmed
Host: Martin Mayer Secretary Sheffield TUC
P.a. audio for the event – to be confirmed
Stalls in Barkers Pool from supporting organisations – to be invited
May Day at DINA, Cambridge Street
DINA provisionally booked – arrangements to be confirmed)
Morning: family and children event making placards/banners for the march
Afternoon: After the rally (say 2.15pm till 4pm). Events to run concurrently in separate spaces:
Panel discussion on alternative economics/ Labour’s answer to austerity (early planning stages – one panel member confirmed, others invited)
Possible alternative meeting(s) e.g. Latin America, Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise
Stalls from supporting organisations – to be invited. Café open all day.
Evening: Social with music. Free Radicals are available and willing to play. Other acts being discussed. Probably 8.30pm start. Possible entrance fee £5
NEXT MAY DAY Planning Meeting 6pm to 7.15pm Tuesday 12th February Small room upstairs, United reform Chapel Norfolk Street
Is your organisation involved? Can you send a representative?
This meeting will finalise some of the above arrangements and begin to look at how we publicise the event and maximise the appeal to the people of Sheffield and the wider area to attend
“Together we can make this a tremendous success – and celebrate our working class history, demand our trade union rights, and begin the fightback for good jobs, decent pay and conditions and renewed collective bargaining in our city.
Martin Mayer
Secretary