Jamaica
Before 1961, May 24 was celebrated in Jamaica as Empire Day in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria and her emancipation of slaves in Jamaica.<3> As its name suggests, the day was used to celebrate the British Empire, complete with flag-raising ceremonies and the singing of patriotic songs. In 1961, Jamaican Chief Minister Norman Washington Manley proposed the replacement of Empire Day with Labour Day, a celebration in commemoration of May 23, 1938, when Alexander Bustamante led a labour rebellion leading to Jamaican independence.
Until May 23, 1971, Labour Day was primarily a trade unions celebration with public rallies and marches.<3> On occasion, opposing trade unions clashed on this day, so in 1972, Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley promoted Labour Day as a showcase for the importance of labour to the development of Jamaica, and a day of voluntary community participation to beneficial projects.<3> Since then, Labour Day has been not only a public holiday but also a day of mass community involvement around the country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_DayThe bolded portion is especially interesting to me. It highlights the shortcomings of Labor Day in the USA, which has morphed into an end-of-summer bash that holds no deeper implications than just another excuse to overeat and/or drink too much while taking the day off from work. I would like to see a Labor Day celebrated with an eye toward community involvement as well, but this is Sociopath Nation, after all, and Number One must be satisfied above anything else.