Welcome to MayWorks Festival of Labour and the Arts 2017.
This is the 23rd year for MayWorks. The Festival’s first year was 1994 – the 75th Anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike. It was those anniversary celebrations that prompted a number of trade union activists to launch the MayWorks Festival as a celebration of working class struggles.

MayWorks offers a mix of events and something of interest to everyone. We have some events that are part of the calendar every year that honour the history of the Strike or unique cultural gems such as the Winnipeg Mandolin Orchestra. This year, MayWorks looks at the effects globalization: “the Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

Events in Britain (the vote to leave the European Union) and the United States (the election of Donald Trump as President) have been part of a mass response to globalization and its effects on working people.

In this year’s Festival, we examine the struggles of working people to maintain hard fought victories and forestall defeats in the face of corporate and government push for austerity, as well as ownership and control of all the supplies of food, water, energy and production. On this note the Festival will feature some events dealing specifically with the features of globalization.

Whatever your interest we invite you to come and participate in the events that are part of this year’s MayWorks Festival of Labour and the Arts.

Glenn Michalchuk,
President
MayWorks Festival of Labour and the Arts