Labour Day, also known as May Day or International Workers’ Day, is the celebration of the international labour movement; the event is commemorated yearly on the 1st of May. The labour (or labor) movement is a term encompassing the development of a collective group of working people, to push for improved treatment and working conditions both from their employers and from the government; the campaign is done in particular through the implementation of certain laws about labour relations. Political groups and ruling class individuals actively take part in the labour movement, although most of the campaigns are made by trade unions that are organized mainly to represent the interests of the working class (or the workers).
What do people do?
Southeast Asian countries mark the Labour Day celebration as a public holiday; labour unions and trade unions take this opportunity to have their voices heard, so that the government and employers can take a closer look at what the workers’ groups have to say about their present working conditions – and what they want to be improved when it comes to these conditions. In some countries, Labour Day is marked with protests against certain policies that may be seen by the working class as unfair, and these protests are mostly attended by different labour groups who aim to push for the implementation of laws that can make their working lives even better.
Labour Day is a public holiday in Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Burma, East Timor, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In Indonesia, Labour Day is also commemorated but continues to be a regular working and school day; it is rarely observed as a holiday by businesses. In the countries where Labour Day is celebrated, it is common to see protest marches with groups of workers in city centers (such as Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Manila in the Philippines) to air their grievances against policies that they feel are not ton their best interests as workers. Employers and governments usually schedule dialogues with workers’ groups so that an appropriate venue for the concerns can be available, to hopefully come up with resolutions (in most cases, the implementation of improved labour-related laws) that will address both the employers’ and the workers’ main concerns.
Photo by karasantos
