May Day and workers’ movement

Fri, May 4. 2012

Another International Workers’ Day, (May Day or Labour Day) has passed with varying degrees of worker mobilisation for the occasion. There was a time when May Day used to be a big occasion throughout most of the Caribbean, replete with marches, celebrations and other appropriate activities. Regrettably, that is no longer so and the significance of the occasion has diminished in proportion to the changed fortunes of the labour movement itself.{{more}} Except for a few notable exceptions (Barbados, Guyana and Grenada come to mind), Labour Day in the Caribbean does not have the impact it used to have in the latter half of the twentieth century ( Trinidad and Tobago’s celebrations have been moved to June 19).

That is not to say that all is well for workers in this part of the world. They are feeling the squeeze brought about by the global economic crisis as much as their colleagues worldwide. That crisis has caused an intensification of workers’ struggles to maintain jobs and rapidly eroding standards of living. Not surprisingly therefore, May Day 2012, was marked by massive worker manifestations in Europe and the USA. In the countries most affected by the crisis, Spain, Greece and Portugal for instance, the level of worker mobilisation was quite high with unemployment and attacks on workers’ pensions and hard-won rights top of the agenda.

In the Caribbean basin, Cuba has historically been out forefront in Labour Day activities with hundreds of thousands of workers participating in the annual parades in Revolution Square on May 1. This year was no different, but much focus was placed on the current economic reforms in the course of which thousands of workers are being laid off from state enterprises and assisted to become self-employed entrepreneurs. But perhaps the highlight around the Caribbean basin this year was Venezuela’s enactment of a new labour law.

Signed by a recovering President Chavez, the new law contains several benefits for workers in that country. It is a product of a process embarked upon since 2003 with wide-ranging discussions resulting in some 19,000 proposals. The final product stipulates a new minimum wage of US$414 per month, the reduction in the working week to 40 hours and maternity leave increased to 25 weeks. The new law also re-establishes retirement bonuses, abolished by a previous government in 1997 and introduces a system of “double compensation” in the event of unfair dismissal.

These are all positive gains, but they require not just a pro-worker government but also an active workforce, prepared to organize to defend and promote the interests of workers. That is no longer quite so, neither in St. Vincent and the Grenadines nor most of the neighbouring islands. The attitude to May Day and to trade union organisation speaks volumes and testifies to the challenges before the leadership of the union movement. The benefits and rights of workers were not handed on any platter, they have come from long years of toil, sacrifice and dedication.

Given the trying international economic climate, workers would be well advised to pay attention to building strong organisations, to forging closer unity and collaboration in order to advance their own cause. No one else can do it for them.