Labour Day For Lights, Camera, Action!

Taking Labour Day To Another Level?

Why do we celebrate Labour Day? I believe  that if you ask most persons why do we have Labour Day they will tell you that Labour Day is about putting work into Labour Day. As I watched the news tonight I said to myself, not even media practitioners know what is the real meaning of Labour Day. 

It is because workers had no choice but to give away their service for little or nothing, why the struggle for better working conditions continued after the ending of enslavement. It was a bitter fight to improve the lot of those who were enslaved. These former enslaved were now the workers who worked for little or nothing and were thrown off the land when enslavement ended. Most had to take to the hills to find a piece of land since backra massa already owed the prime lands on the plains.

The plight of the workers probably was just a little better than when they were enslaved. They worked hard for long hours in the sugar cane fields and also on the wharfs for example. During the nineteen thirties, the workers became more militant and refused to work for low wages under such difficult conditions. There were workers at the grass root level such as Aggie Bernard and St. William Grant who struggled for better for the workers of Jamaica. Then emerged Bustamante, a high colour man to lead the labour movement and he was supported then by his cousin Norman Manley.

Those who studied history will have learnt that Bustamante and Norman Manley were members of the same party while Bustamente was in charge of the Union. Bustamante eventually formed his own party the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party). We learnt about the riots of 1938 for better wages for the workers. The fight was not just a Jamaican phenomenon but a fight in the Caribbean and other countries.

Out of all of this, and in recognizing the struggle of the workers  a established colonial holiday became Labour Day. This was the day which was used to celebrate and recognize the value of the workers and their struggles over the years. After awhile Labour Day became more about the two political parties than recognizing the achievement of the workers. Michael Manley during his term as Prime Minister, came up with the theme 'Let's Put Work Into Labour Day'. Since then we no longer seem to know what the real Labour Day is all about.

Every Dick, Tom and Harry are now painting over pedestrian crossings which they have no training to do. Some have even changed the colour of the crossings.

Probably if we start teaching our people about our recent history and start to teach civics in schools, then we will have a new government which will understand the value of workers, management who understand that their greatest assets are the workers and we will have workers who will understand their true value to nation building. Hopefully then we can celebrate the real meaning of Labour Day, and not reserve it for a day to go to the beach, do community work and put on a national Labour Day Concert.

Once upon a time we kept out communities clean, we maintained our pedestrian crossings, and we had the length man who saw to it that our roads were maintained, but now normal and daily tasks of the past have now become Labour Day projects, Labour Day projects for the bright lights and for the cameras! Lights, Camera, Action! What a Life, what a country!

What do you think?

News report on Labour Day on TVJ.