Let’s unite to celebrate May 1st, International Workers’ Day!
11:00 – Sign-making session at Suðurgata
13:00 – Assembly for the march by Hlemmur
13:30 – March begins
Samtökin ’78 first particpated in an International Workers’ Day march 35 years ago, in 1982. „The scheme was not well received by the march’s organizers,“ observed Þóra Kristín Ásgeirsdóttir in the organization’s 30 year anniversary issue. „Still, members of Samtökin ’78 were permitted to participate, although they were not formally made party to the day’s celebrations. But when itch came to scratch, only two people showed up: Guðni Baldursson and his husband, Helgi Viðar Magnússon. They marched in front of the band Svanur, carrying a white banner nearly three meters across, adorned with two pink triangles and the inscription ‘Job security for gays and lesbians’.“
Samtökin ’78 will participate in the 2017 march as in many years past. The struggles for queer rights and workers’ rights are deeply intertwined. In Iceland, for instance, there is still no law barring discrimination in the labor market on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics.
We encourage everyone to participate in the May 1st march and celebrations with their labor union and/or with Samtökin ’78. We also encourage participants to bring their most colorful flags and signs that reflect the importance of secure employment for queer people.
Samtökin ’78 employees will of course have the day off on May 1st. The office will therefore be closed.
Photo credit: Alda Villiljós. More photographs by Alda from the 2015 march are available here: https://samtokin78.is/
