01/05/2026
Dear AFULE Members,
Happy May Day. Take a moment today to think about what this day actually means, what workers have achieved when they've stood together and refused to back down.
It goes all the way back to 1856. Stonemasons in Melbourne downed tools, walked off the job at Melbourne University, and marched to Parliament House. They weren't asking for much, just eight hours work, eight hours rest, and eight hours to themselves. Eight, eight, eight. That simple idea changed the lives of every working Australian that followed.
Queensland held its own first May Day march in 1891, with striking bush workers marching through Barcaldine in blue sashes, carrying the Eureka flag. It took nearly another 60 years before the eight-hour day was locked in for every Australian worker. That's how long these fights take, and that's why we don't stop.
The AFULE has been part of that fight since 1861. Twenty railway drivers came together after Victoria's first rail line opened, sick of the dangerous conditions and the long hours. That small group became the first and oldest railway union in the world. In 1921 we became the first union of state employees to gain federal registration, and then the first to win a federal award, setting the standard for unions right across the country.
Today we celebrate that history, and the members who carry it forward. The conditions you have didn't come easy. They were fought for, argued for, and in some cases walked off the job for. May Day is the day we remember that and recommit to protecting it.
