Worker Exploitation, A Troubling Reality, Despite Political ‘May Day’ Shows!

By Mohamed Harees –MAY 1, 2021

Lukman Harees

“Today, in the May Day, find a worker and shake his hand with gratitude! Without workers, no civilisation could be built!”― Mehmet Murat ildan

Most official holidays in our calendar commemorate national or religious events. Though national holidays are too often treated as cheap rationales for carefree days off, most still involve some sort of salute — however superficial — to the particular occasion’s ostensible purpose. Independence Day for example is one such day. So is the historically significant ‘the May day’ (or Labour Day as it is called in US) which should be a near-perfect amalgamation of the prestige associated with the contributions of the workforce in the overall development of a society defined by the collective respect for Work and workforces of all kinds. This Day marks a new epoch in the annals of human history. It differs essentially from some of the other holidays of the year in that it glorifies no armed conflicts or battles of man’s prowess over man. May Day should be an opportunity to reflect on the vital role, workers have played in improving the lives of working people of all backgrounds—a calling ever more important in the Covid-19 affected world.

However, the significance of the Day appear to be sadly lost on the worker and has become a show of strength by the traditional political parties of all colours masquerading as workers champions using those who sweat and toil, as pawns in their political games. This fragmentation of workers’ unity along party lines can be seen in many countries including Sri Lanka. It is a shame that the workers instead of mobilising independently to safeguard their own interests, are now paying lip service to their cause by aligning with the very capitalist political parties which have violently suppressed many struggles led by the workers and the youth of the country in the past.  With changing times and conditions, many have forgotten the reasons for why the day became established and today has mostly assumed a symbolic meaning.

May Day (1st of May) is an international holiday honouring the struggles of the working class and efforts of labour unions.International Workers’ Day was officially recognized in 1889 at the first International Socialist Congress in Paris to commemorate the Haymarket Affair—a bloody confrontation between striking union workers and Chicago police in 1886. May Day’s origins are centered around the call for an eight-hour workday, a fact of life many of us take for granted but which was fought for fiercely by industrial workers facing brutal conditions in the late 19th century. But the fact that we’re able to debate the workweek at all is a true testament to how far workers rights have come since the 1800s. The Day was declared a holiday in Sri Lanka in 1956 not only to honour the contributions of the nation’s working men and women and their achievements, but also to highlight the need for labour reform laws.

It should be remembered that people were then shot, so the workers  could have the 8-hour day; it should be acknowledged that homes with families in them were burned to the ground so workers could have Saturday as part of the weekend; it should be recalled that 8-year old victims of industrial accidents who marched in the streets protesting working conditions and child labour only to be beat down by the police and company thugs, it should be understood that our current condition cannot be taken for granted – people fought for the rights and dignities the people enjoy today, and there is still a lot more to fight for. The sacrifices of so many people cannot be forgotten or we’ll end up fighting for those same gains all over again. This is why commemorating May Day is important.

This Worker’s Day has however lost its original purpose and today has been reduced to a mere hypocrisy, with the spirit being lost among the sea of flags and colourful demonstrations shouting catchy slogans against worker exploitation. Today, the worker in a demonstration seldom realizes that he/she is a mere pawn in the hands of the politicians and capitalists, who works hand in glove to achieve their selfish ends. At the end, the plight of the worker appears to be getting worse by the day due to the widening economic disparities; situation getting aggravated in the post-Covid scenario. Perhaps the main reason this Day’s meaning has been lost amid the shows is the decline of the power of unions. Today, however, there’s a war on organizing, collective bargaining, unions, and workers. In the global, post-industrial era, industrial unions have less clout, and public-sector unions face well-resourced attacks from the right. In some cases, unions have left themselves open to criticism by retreating to the bread-and-butter concerns of its membership like wages and benefits, and by not embracing change, continuous reform and accountability, and an expansive vision of shared progress.

So is May/ Labour Day an anachronism, a throwback to an earlier time, and no longer a meaningful holiday? Answer is that it can be exceptionally meaningful if we redefine the purpose and work towards coming together for the reformation of the laws to fight worker exploitation and make their lot better. The  Day should recognize the productivity and contributions of office workers, knowledge workers, and those in service industries along with union workers, whether they are steelworkers, hospital workers, or government employees.

Today, May Day or Labour Day has become more associated with political shows rather than with a celebration of the working class. And perhaps a major reason for this is that the shrinking of the traditional, blue-collar, unionized “working class” is becoming a smaller and smaller portion of the  population. In other words, many of the workers that this Day originally honoured just aren’t here anymore. Their jobs have either gone off-shore or simply don’t exist. Knowledge workers are on the increase, perpetually tethered to their smartphones who may not be physically working, but they’re virtually always at work.

Of all the debates surrounding globalization, one of the most contentious involves trade and workers’ rights. The term “exploitation” often conjures up images of workers labouring in sweatshops for 12 hours or more per day, for pennies an hour, driven by a merciless overseer. This is contrasted to the ideal of a “fair wage day’s wage for a fair day’s work”–the supposedly “normal” situation under capitalism in which workers receive a decent wage, enough for a “middle class” standard of living, health insurance and security in their retirement. Sweatshops and modern serfdom however persist to this day in various forms and shapes. It’s an unpalatable truth but for all our technological advances, for all our rights enshrined by international law, the majority world remains crushed underfoot by the wheels of global capital. This exploitation is racialised as it is gendered.

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