May Day, also known as International Workers' Solidarity Day, commemorates the historic uprising of working people in Chicago, USA, at the height of a prolonged fight for eight-hour workday.

The day is a public holiday.

Trade unions, professional organisations and political parties in Bangladesh will observe the May Day by organising rallies, processions of workers and seminars in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. And that was achieved with blood spilled in a vigorous movement in Chicago.

The unions called a general strike to achieve the goal, as the workers were being forced to work 10, 12 and 14 hours a day in the heydays of industrial boom.

In Chicago, the heart of the movement, police and militia fired into a crowd of strikers at the McCormick Reaper Works Factory, killing four and wounding many on May 3, 1986.

The agitating workers called a mass meeting the next day at Haymarket Square to protest the brutality. Police again fired into the crowd, killing one more worker and injuring many others. A bomb was thrown at the police, leaving a policeman dead.

President Iajuddin Ahmed, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and Opposition Leader Sheikh Hasina have given separate messages on the occasion.

The president in his message said the May Day is a significant day for the workers of the world to celebrate the establishing of their rights. "The day has always been considered as the eternal source of inspiration for the workers to realise respect for their work," he added.

In a separate message the prime minister said in spite of a surprising progress in machines and technology, workers are still important in the areas of development, production and construction.

"To respect the status of workers is important to us, as we are confident in the politics of development-production," she added.

Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina called upon the workers of the country to form a united movement to save the countrymen from the existing misrule.

Workers of Bangladesh Apparels Worker's Federation, National Garments Workers Federation and other organisations will hold separate rallies in the city to mark the day.