May Day in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world Wednesday

May Day being observed on Wednesday.

May Day is being observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere around the world on Wednesday to establish the rights of working people. On May 1, 1886, workers in the city of Chicago, USA, gave their blood to establish an eight-hour work day. Since then the day has been observed as 'May Day'.

But how much do they know about this day? Many workers do not know its history. Even after all these years of observing this day for workers' rights, the demands of the working people for fair wages are still neglected, a large part of them are still deprived of their basic human rights.

Different Labour organizations and political parties have taken up programmes to obsere the day through the organization of discussion meetings, demonstration and putting up posters voicing the demands of workers.

The day is a closed national holiday in Bangladesh. Newspapers have published special features and articles while television centres and radio stations are putting up special programmes on the day.

90 countries around the world officially celebrate the first day of May as International Workers' Day. Although International Labor Day originated in the context of the labor movement in the city of Chicago on May 1, the first Monday of September is celebrated as Labor Day in the United States.

On September 5, 1882, about 10,000 workers in the United States rallied in New York to demand their rights. Despite the protests and casualties in the United States, the decision to celebrate Labor Day was made in Paris, the capital of France, at the First International Socialist Congress held in 1889.

In Bangladesh the garment industry employs the largest number of workers. Every garment factory works more than eight hours a day. Even if you don't want to do overtime, you are forced to do it. The money for that overtime is not properly received or the owner does various tricks in paying it. We see this situation in most sectors, not just the garment industry.

Workers who are killed, injured at work should be paid monetary or physical compensation. Workers should not be overburdened and should be treated with courtesy. But in real life, death and permanent disability in various accidents at work is the destiny of workers. After a fire or collapse of building, there is no  guarantee of compensation for the families of the dead workers and the injured ones.

Fair compensation to workers should be determined keeping in mind the general standard of living of a working family as per the current market. The entire family of the worker who suffer should be paid adequate compensation.

International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions on Workers' Rights require national determination of the most acceptable standards of workers' compensation. And the owners responsible for the accident must be forced to pay this compensation to the workers. The employer shall undertake the maintenance of the laborers or pay such wages as may meet their needs in time. It will reduce the distance between workers and owners. 

Labour unions should enjoy complete freedom to operate as bargaining agents to establish the rights of the workers.-  GreenWatch News Desk