CARDIFF’S May Day rally on Saturday was a hotbed of solidarity and celebration as striking Cwm Taf hospital health workers came to the forefront of the trade union workers’ celebration.

Cardiff Trades Council’s annual rally and march through Cardiff celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike and gave pride of place to the strikers.

The Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board’s Unite health workers have been on strike for fair pay for over two months after a job evaluation placed them on a higher grade.

Unite steward Kay Perry told the May Day rally that the strike is about justice and equality for women health visitors.

“This year is also the 130th anniversary of health visitors, which was fought for by the suffragettes. This is our first strike as health visitors and we are determined to win,” Ms Perry said.

National Union of Journalists Welsh executive member Andrew Draper said that the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate is organising protests in Ramallah and Gaza this weekend against the targeting of journalists by the Israeli state.

“Killing journalists is so rife, not just in Palestine and Lebanon, there’s a special term for it: journicide. The International Federation of Journalists reports the death toll as 262  journalists and media workers, mostly in Gaza.”

Mr Draper added that the February report from the Committee to Protect Journalists had recounted torture in Israeli prisons, with details of sexual and physical torture too graphic to share in public.

Unison Cymru’s Samuel Adedoja is a support worker in the care sector who came to work in Wales from Nigeria after seeing an advert calling for workers to help.

“Many of us arrived to find that the promises made on pay and conditions did not match reality,” he said.

Mr Adedoja said the government’s plans to extend the indefinite leave to remain for workers from five to 10 years was a breach of the agreement.

Striking bin workers from Birmingham Council closed the rally with an impassioned plea from Unite representative Mike Masters, who said that members had now been on strike for 16 months.

Mr Masters said his union had recently threatened to stop its affiliation fees to the Labour Party and this seemed to have moved the dispute into talks to resolve it.

“The 250 of our striking bin workers thank you for your solidarity and support on our picket lines,” Mr Masters said.