Minimum wage, child labour laws, pension benefits, unemployment insurance, social security, overtime pay, paternal leave, sick leave and even the weekend… where would the world be without trade unions and the labour movement?
As we observe International Workers’ Day with no physical rallies or marches, May 1, 2020, will be a day like no other. Around 10 million migrant labourers are stranded across India due to the coronavirus lockdown, even as the first “special” train ferrying some 1,200 grounded workers left Telangana for Jharkhand this morning. The global pandemic portends greater inequality and unemployment in the near future, and daily wagers and migrant labourers are set to bear the maximum brunt of this economic impasse. It was in Chicago Haymarket Square in 1886 that workers first gathered to demand an eight-hour work shift. This labour protest rally inspired working classes around the world and May Day first came into being in 1889. How will the trade unions and labour groups fight for their rights in the current crisis in such constrained circumstances?
The prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, delivered his May Day speech on TV and social media. “They should not drop workers at the first sign of trouble,” he said ahead of May 1. For the first time in the country, the National Trades Union Congress held a closed-door virtual dialogue session comprising some 1,500 labour movement leaders and partners.
Indonesia’s labour unions, aside from seeking donations for face masks for factory workers, have called for an online protest against a controversial bill which could lead to more layoffs.
France plans to mark the day on social networking sites and raise flags and slogans from balconies.
In Finland, the famous market square enclosing the Manta statue, where the largest public gathering takes place on May Day, lies vacant. But the Finn authorities have called on people to move their May Day festivities online where viewers can partake live streaming of wine tasting and cocktail-making lessons in the world's happiest country.
But Greece, the Philippines and Hong Kong have seen people take to the streets in sporadic protests.
May Day was first celebrated in India in 1923 in Madras (now Chennai). It was held in two meetings and spearheaded by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan and Comrade Singaravelar (Singaravelu Chettiar) who fought for the rights of the backward classes and demanded a national holiday on Labour Day.
While web demonstrations for stronger rights have not been planned at this point, a number of cultural initiatives have been streamed online mark the great significance of the day. Delhi’s prominent left-wing bookstore, May Day Bookstore and Cafe which is also attached to theatre space Jana Natya Manch, is holding a day-long online celebration of workers’ right at live.leftword.com. The platform will host performances and talks from all over the world, including JNU student leader Aishe Ghosh from her hometown in Durgapur, singer Tania Saleh from Lebanon, CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat from Delhi, Jose Delgado from Venezuela and Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) from the US.
