May Day or May 1st is the International Labor Day. It is celebrated in many countries and in more than 80 countries May I is an official holiday. Usually, workers demonstrate protests on May I irrespective of the party. All socialist, communists and anarchist assemble and organize rallies and strikes on this day to speak out their rights. All the trade unions assemble to argue for their rights.
International Labor Day is celebrated to commemorate the martyrs of Haymarket massacre at Chicago on 1886. The workers assembled there for the eight-hour workday; an unidentified person threw bomb at the police who were trying to disperse the protesting crowd; and the police began to fire and it killed many people. These martyrs are remembered on every May Day.
The Catholic Church remembers St.Joseph on May 1st. He was a carpenter and so he is now respected as the patron saint of workers. On every May Day, rallies and meetings are held, ministers come to greet their trade union members and promise them the security, comforts and rescue from the exploitation by the employer.
The workers have gained the eight-hour workday from the Haymarket protest, but do they enjoy all the rights that they are promised. They are dissatisfied with the wages itself, some jobs pay good salary and offer good living conditions. But the poor workers like those who are at the mining areas, who are at the construction sites and who are doing daily works are suffering a lot. They are working hard to earn the bread, but they are exploited, abused and misused by their employers. Their conditions are even pathetic in developing and under developed countries; proper security measures are exempted, not payed for the extra work and poor accommodation and sanitation are given. Even pathetic is the condition of the female employees; apart from all these discomforts they may have to tolerate the sexual harassment too.
On May Day, the focus should be on improving the working conditions in the developing and under developed countries. Workers have the rights to have proper accommodation and sanitation. They should be provided with all security measures. Those who are engaged in life threatening labors should be given extra wages and if any disaster occurs their family should be protected. The trade union leaders should stand with the workers and argue for their rights. HAPPY MAY DAY TO ALL WORKERS.
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