Labour Day!

In 1856, Australian stonemasons in Victoria undertook a mass stoppage, demanding the preliminary necessity of all workers around the globe, an eight-hour work a day. This was the foundation of the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY, which we are celebrating today.

May 1 or May day is celebrated throughout the world as International Labour Day, but in India, we also celebrate this day as Maharashtra Day and Gujarat Day, which makes it an even more special day for all Indians.?

It was only today that Maharashtra and Gujarat were carved out from the state of Bombay in 1960 making the day special. But while the states got their freedoms and identities, the working class around the globe is still fighting for their rights, about which I mulled a little more.

Over the years and even now, the contribution of our blue-collar workers is underestimated abysmally. They have been exploited, had been unheard of for years. Even for the basic 8 hours of work demand, these workers were held for trials and even killed, which was called the miscarriage of justice.?Today most countries, commemorate the struggles of the labour who died demanding a better life for the labour class by declaring it a national holiday, but is that enough?

The push and pull between the two social classes had always been existential, the royals and the commoners, the rich and the poor, the industrialists and the labours. Aristotle once mentioned, "the nobles will be dissatisfied because they think themselves worthy of more than an equal share of honour's; this is often found to be a cause of sedition and revolution." I find this undoubtedly true.?

The huge firms, industries, and factories often forget that it is the labour that makes possible their businesses' growth and working. We often forget that it's our maids, the cab drivers, the plumbers, the sweepers, the electricians, the helpers, cleaners of hospitals, waiters and waitresses of the big 5- star hotels we go to, who make our life better and easier. Despite all this, why is the share of honour divided unequally? Why should their rights be any less than ours? Why are our working conditions always thought upon and not theirs? WHY?

Indore had been the cleanest city in India for 5 consecutive years and it compelled me to think, who made it possible? And then I remembered those cleaners and sweepers who worked all night made the cleanest roads in the morning, the garbage trucks rolling over every morning to make sure the dustbins aren't stacked up for days. The municipal workers separating the garbage, by hand, made it possible for proper waste disposal. And not only this, there's a lot more that happens smoothly because these workers do their work properly.

Just the way all parts of a machine are important for a smooth functioning, an equal amount of respect, attention and well-being of all components of an economic system is required for the desired growth and happiness of a nation. As Karl Marx mentioned "The circulation of capital realizes value, while living labour creates value", we must learn to honour and care for the creators of value!

So let's just not celebrate the day as Labour Day, let's take a step to respect the works of our blue-collar population, let's take a moment to appreciate their work and their importance in our life, let's show them the gratitude, thank them for what they do.?

Also, I'm happy to share, that Deccan Technosecurity & Utility Services Pvt ltd, the firm I am interning for celebrates its 26th anniversary today. We too handle outsourcing contract labours here and I'm super proud I am linked to a firm that works with such ethical ways to protect and treat the labours just right.