The centenary of the first May Day, celebrated in Madras (now Chennai) in 1923 by trade union leader M. Singaravelu, comes at a time when the Tamil Nadu government made an abortive attempt to enable factories to increase the working hours beyond the eight-hour shift.
The backlash from political parties and trade unions was so strong that the government decided to put on hold the Factories (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2023, just days after the Assembly adopted it.
