May Day and workers' rights
Photo: Amdadul Huq / Driknews
May day, the political version, - is an American holiday -- once celebrated everywhere in the world except America. The holiday is most often associated with the commemoration of social and economic achievements of the labour movement for a basic right we're now in the process of losing. The day began as workers campaigned for an eight-hour day - we all are aware of its history. But, what is actually happening? The industrial mode of production has divided society into two classes, those who own the means of production (the factories, corporate houses, and govt. institutions as well as development agencies) and the proletariats (the workers), those who are selling their labour as a commodity. The capitalist class is exploiting the labour of workers to produce a surplus for making profits. The exploitation is leading to harsh working condition and extremely low wages for the proletariats. We have to stay longer in the office, we take work home with us, we take work everywhere with us, because, at some level we fear that, if we don't, either the company/organisation will fail or it will replace us with people who'll make the sacrifices. So, all the organisations should implement the ILO policies.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments