May Day 2025 Solidarity Fundraiser - Friday 9th May

MAYDAY MAYDAY!

Following our last sold-out event, join us for another solidarity fundraiser, organised by young members of Unison in London.

Come for the MORRIS DANCE PERFORMANCE BY THE BELLES OF LONDON CITY 💃  
& the wonderful fingerstyle tunes of SAM GRASSIE 🎶

Stay for the CHEAP REFRESHMENTS, DJs, DANCING, CELEBRATION OF CLASS STRUGGLE, SOLIDARITY & FUN ❗

Support workers fighting local cuts
We are raising money for the strike fund of Lambeth UNISON, who are running two campaigns against a closure to schools and cuts to library services. This is part of a wider campaign against local government cuts. Unions must take action not only to stop cuts but to demand a fundamental rebuilding of public services. We all deserve better housing, schools, mental health services, and workers deserve dignity at work and good conditions. The lives of workers and residents are inherently linked and the sooner we unite, the sooner we can make our communities better places.

Trans rights are human rights
The recent UK Supreme Court ruling on the definition of "sex" under the Equality Act 2010 has dangerous implications for trans people in the UK. Our union has long been a vocal advocate of trans rights, but we have worried that our union may capitulate to this new unfair legal standard and the narrative the Labour Party is pushing. We believe unions should fight for workers and wider social issues too. This is why we are fundraising for the Trans Legal Clinic - https://www.translegalclinic.com

event graphic illustration magpied from Walter Crane, promoting a similar event 130 years ago

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 Tickets: ̶̶£̶̶̶7̶̶̶ ̶̶̶e̶a̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶i̶r̶d̶  £10 on TicketTailor or available to buy on the door. 

Address: Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, E1 5QJ

Accessibility: The event space has level access. There is a gender neutral accessible bathroom available for use directly next to the event space which does not require a radar key. There is no parking at the event space, the nearest Blue Badge parking is on Parmiter Street, approximately 965 metres away, where there are 2 on street bays, with a 3hr maximum.

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The Workers Maypole by Walter Crane, 1894

World Workers, whatever may bind ye,
This day let your work be undone:
Cast the clouds of the winter behind ye,
And come forth and be glad in the sun.

Now again while the green earth rejoices
In the bud and the blossom of May
Lift your hearts up again, and your voices,
And keep merry the World's Labour Day.

Let the winds lift your banners from far lands
With a message of strife and of hope:
Raise the Maypole aloft with its garlands
That gathers your cause in its scope.

It is writ on each ribbon that flies
That flutters from fair Freedom's heart:
If still far be the crown and the prize
In its winning may each take a part.

Your cause is the hope of the world,
In your strife is the life of the race,
The workers' flag Freedom unfurled
Is the veil of the bright future's face.

Be ye many or few drawn together,
Let your message be clear on this day;
Be ye birds of the spring, of one feather
In this--that ye sing on May-Day.

Of the new life that still lieth hidden,
Though its shadow is cast before;
The new birth of hope that unbidden
Surely comes, as the sea to the shore.

Stand fast, then, Oh Workers, your ground,
Together pull, strong and united:
Link your hands like a chain the world round,
If you will that your hopes be requited.

When the World's Workers, sisters and brothers,
Shall build, in the new coming years,
A lair house of life--not for others,
For the earth and its fulness is theirs.