LABOUR
DAY OR MAY DAY OR WORKERS’ DAY
Official Name is: International Workers’ Day
Also called as: May Day
International Labour Day is also known as
the International Worker’s Day and May Day which is celebrated on international
level to promote and encourage the international labour associations. It is
being celebrated all across the world every year on 1st of May which has been declared as the traditional
spring holiday in the Europe.
It has also been declared as the national holiday in almost
80 countries of the world whereas it is being celebrated as an unofficial event
in most of the countries. It the US and Canada, it is (Labour Day) celebrated
on 1st Monday of the September month as an annual holiday for celebrating the
great achievements of the workers working in various fields.
INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR DAY 2017
International Labour Day 2017 will be
celebrated by the people (socialists and labour unions) all over the world on 1st of May, at Monday.
HISTORY
AND ORIGIN OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY
International Workers’ Day is the big
celebration on the world level and it is celebrated to commemorate the 4th of May of 1886, the Haymarket affair (Haymarket
Massacre) in the Chicago. It is the big event of that year when workers were on
the general strike for their eight-hour workday and police were doing their job
of dispersing the general public from the crowd. Suddenly, a bomb was thrown
over the crowd by an unidentified person and then police started firing over
the workers and four demonstrators were killed.
Here is a real statement about the event:
“Reliable witnesses testified that all the pistol flashes came from the center
of the street, where the police were standing, and none from the crowd.
Moreover, initial newspaper reports made no mention of firing by civilians. A
telegraph pole at the scene was filled with bullet holes, all coming from the
direction of the police.”
It was decided to be celebrated on annual
basis as an May Day in the meeting (in 1889) of Paris through a proposal by the
Raymond Lavigne that international demonstrations is required to celebrate the
anniversary of Chicago protests. In the year 1891, May Day was officially
recognized by the International’s second congress to be celebrated as an annual
event.
However, May Day Riots was occurred in the
year 1894 and then in the year 1904, the following statement was given in the
International Socialist Conference at Amsterdam “all Social Democratic Party
organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on
May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands
of the proletariat, and for universal peace.” and declared it “mandatory upon
the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever
it is possible without injury to the workers.”
WHY
IS MAY DAY CELEBRATED?
International Labour Day or May Day is
celebrated to finish the struggle as well as to promote the requirement of
eight-hour work day. Earlier the working condition of the laborer was very
severe and working hours was 10 to 16 hour a day even in the unsafe conditions.
Deaths, injuries and other dreadful conditions of the workers were very common
at the workplace during the 1860’s and working people were very agitated
throughout the workday until the 8-hour workday was declared.
The rising death of the working class
people (men, women and children) in many working industries, required to raise
the voice for the safety of the working group people by decreasing their
working hours in the industries. After the lots of efforts made by the workers
and socialists, eight-hours was declared as the legal time for the workers in
the national convention at Chicago in 1884 by the American Federation of Labor.
Many people have sacrificed their lives
during the Haymarket Massacre which was held in the Chicago during the strike
of workers. May Day is celebrated to commemorate the event of Haymarket
Massacre as well as to promote the social and economic achievements of the
working group people.
HOW
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY IS CELEBRATED
International Labor Day is celebrated
yearly as an official holiday all over the world to celebrate the
accomplishments of workers. People enjoy celebrating the May Day or Labour Day
by arranging the big party and lots of programmes. They decorate the banners
and flags using colors just like an Independence Day celebration.
Variety of news and messages are
distributed by the TV channels and radio channels saying Happy Labor Day among
people to increase social awareness about the Labour Day. Variety of other
events is also organized by the International Labour Organization to celebrate
the day. The theme of the Labour Day party celebration becomes any cartoon
characters, western culture shows, sports, TV shows, movies, holiday
activities, crazy fun activities and many more. Other Labor Day activities
includes crossword puzzle, anagram puzzle, word search puzzle, code cracker
puzzle, word scramble puzzle, phrase matching game puzzle and etc.
This celebration has become a historic
significance all over the world and celebrated by the Labor unions worldwide.
Variety of demonstrations, speeches, protests processions, rallies and parades
are organized by the working group people under the security arrangements to
protect violence.
INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR DAY THEME
International Labour Day themes are planned
by the members of the International labour day. Some of the themes are
mentioned below:
The theme of International Labour Day of 2016
would be “Celebrating the international labour movement”.
The theme of International Labour Day of 2015
was “Construct the Future of Cameroon in Peace, Solidarity and Decent Work”.
The theme of International Labour Day of 2013
was “Let’s value work by providing the jobless with start-up capital support“.
The theme of International Labour Day of 2012
was “Promote Employment by Supporting Prospective Entrepreneurs”.
INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR ORGANIZATION
International Labour Organization (ILO) is
an agency located in the United Nations, established to deal with labour issues
on international level. It has around 185 members of the total (193) UN member
states. It was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1969 for
promoting peace among classes, deal with workers issues, providing them
technical assistance in order to develop nations.
It deals with all the complaints violating
the international rules for labour class people. It has tripartite governing
structure means “representing governments, employers and workers (usually with
a ratio of 2:1:1)” in order to create free and open debate between the social
partners and governmental body. International Labour Organization secretariat
works as an International Labour Office.
Its Governing Body has right to plan or
take decision about International Labour Conferences, adopting or organizing
programmes, electing the director-general, dealing with the member states about
the labour matters, appointing commissions of inquiry as well as supervising
International Labour Office actions. It has around 28 government
representatives, 14 employer representatives and 14 worker representatives.
It organizes an International Labour
Conference (parliament of labour, having 4 representatives, 2 government, 1
employer and 1 worker delegate) on annual basis in the Geneva in the month of
June to make general policies, planning programmes and deciding budget.
Labors
are your many hands, keep them happy and relax.
Unite
together to live in unity as it benefits in many ways.
Happy
labor day to all who really worked hard.
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