May 1

I always wondered from the days of my childhood as to why do we celebrate Labor Day, there had been brief discussions and all of them gave me incomplete overview. So I finally decided to look as to why we in Pakistan celebrate something which happened in 1800’s in the United States.

During 18^th century American workers toiled continuously for 12 hours seven days a week to earn basic living. The working conditions of those laborers were not only unsafe but they had no access to fresh air, sanitary facilities. 5 or 6 year old children labored like adults within same time frame in factories, mills and they were paid half as to what the older workers earned.

It was the time when Industrial Revolution was gaining momentum so the labor unions became visible, these unions demanded fair wages, safe working conditions, holidays and so on. After protests and some legislation Labor Day got recognized to commemorate efforts of all those workers.

Socialist and communists also celebrated their working class on May 1, so Americans chose to celebrate it on the first Monday of September because they didn’t want to have any identification with Communists.

Today we in Pakistan also celebrate the Labor Day and I still wonder why? Why do we even bother because the harsh work conditions which were prevalent in 1800’s in USA are still very much present in 2012; however, now they have gone from bad to worse. People who work in the industrial sector face far more horrid situations than their counterparts in 1800. Children are still doing hardest kind of labor and also getting all sorts of possible abuse and molestation.

The situation of white collar worker is much more promising as they have better salaries, satisfactory work conditions but the abuse of human is still evident when people work for 14 to 18 hours. However this hasn’t been a common practice in Pakistan thankfully but unfortunately in many developed countries abuse of workers has taken a different shape. The white collar worker in these developed countries labors for 12-plus hours with hardly any breaks and for a lousy paycheck; in addition most of them have to work two jobs to make their ends meet.

Few months ago in Japan people who worked at the Stock Exchanges protested against the cut in their lunch-break timing from 2 hours to 90 minutes. In Finland (it is a country known as the happiest country in the world) people only work till four in the evening and after getting off everybody either walk or on their bicycles head to the eateries and to socializing.

Still the economies of these countries are working perfectly. My point is that it’s not the long hours which gives productivity but the healthy mental state and physical health of the employees which makes the whole difference. If I am feeling good by taking proper sleep, having time with family, eating decent meals then my efficiency would be obviously tenfold.

This is my view some of you ambitious types might have other opinions. 

Best regards with many prayers for all the workers in this country.

Happy Labor Day!

Sonya. (Day 299)