The bloody history of the Great May Day is one of the glorious historical events of the 19th century. The event originated in the American city of Chicago but gradually its response spread worldwide. Historical records show that the May 1886 killings of workers and the bombing of protest rallies sparked worldwide condemnation for the next several decades. As a result, May 1 Day is recognized internationally. The protesters continued to campaign for their demands despite the killings and torture. In 1889, on the centenary of the French Revolution, the Second International Congress was held in Paris. Since 1890 there, Raymond Lavin proposed to observe the anniversary of the Chicago protest internationally in different countries. The proposal was formally adopted at the Second International Congress of 1891. Since May 1 was declared as Labor Day, the day has been celebrated by the working class in many countries.
May Day acquired a special significance after the socialist revolution in Russia and later in several other countries. Workers' rights were recognized with the establishment of the International Labor Organization as an important subsidiary arm of the United Nations. The ILO establishes a number of regulations and urges industrial owners and workers in all countries to comply with them, thus protecting the rights of workers and owners. Bangladesh is a signatory country to the principles formulated by the ILO. In 1915, the first 8-hour work day rule was issued in Uruguay. Later, the 8-hour work rule was introduced for workers all over the world. The May Day struggle demanded an eight-hour day, higher wages and better working conditions, etc. - now fully pursued in the developed world.
On the other hand, developing countries are struggling to keep their hardworking people alive. For example, Bangladesh's 500,000 garment workers are urban (although only 15 percent of the country's workers are urban workers), there are also day-to-day laborers and a large poor population involved in agriculture. It is important to protect these low-income people from the crisis as well as to use them to keep the wheels of the country's economy moving. Moreover, the demand for working men and women in the medical service sector was very high during the Corona crisis. Along with doctors-nurses, hospital ward boys, nannies, cleaners have worked at risk to deal with Corona. In other words, the importance of working people in medical care at the critical moment was immense. From this point of view, this May Day carries a different significance. That's why the slogan of 2022 should be - 'The country will survive if the workers survive'.
It should be noted that the number of agricultural workers in Bangladesh is 2 crore 33 lakh, the number of workers employed in hotels, restaurants and shops is 82 lakh, and the number of factory workers is 75 lakh. Of these, 50 lakh workers work in garment factories. Among the 64 districts of the country, child laborers are also found in several districts. Besides, there are workers in roads and highways, construction, textile (yarn making and weaving), tannery, ship breaking, poultry and shrimp (processing), chatal (paddy mill), agriculture and fisheries. Shop workers and workers in vehicle repair factories are also important in the service sector. Stone quarrying and stone breaking and brick kiln workers in the construction sector are engaged in hazardous work. Many women workers work in inhuman conditions in this country. These women are seen in earth cutting and brick breaking, sawdust and fish processing industries. Again, the contribution of expatriate women workers to the remittances of this country is also recognized. Most women workers of Bangladesh went to 10 countries; There are about 9 lakh women workers in those countries.
According to the data of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training or BMET, the number of women workers who went abroad from Bangladesh from 1991 to 2019 is - Saudi Arabia - 332 thousand 204 people, Jordan - 155 thousand 411, United Arab Emirates - 130 thousand 571 , Lebanon - one hundred and six thousand 840, Oman - 86 thousand 132, Qatar - 32 thousand 259, Mauritius - 17 thousand 923, Kuwait - nine thousand 19, Malaysia six thousand 638 and four thousand 290 women workers in Bahrain. There are 6 crore workers in all in Bangladesh. The main problems of these workers are harassment, disappearances and accidental deaths. In the sea fisheries, working people are the most missing. Among the accidents, road accidents, electrocution, building collapses, falls from above, lightning, fires and explosions cause workers to die every year. On the other hand, about 1500 workers were killed in the garment sector in the 11 years from 2009 to 2019. However, since 2018, the non-fatalities of workers have decreased to a large extent. Unable to write, the families and children of the dead workers are left helpless, with no one to look after them. They cannot meet the minimum requirements for survival.
However, after the Rana Plaza accident in 2013, the change in the environment of garment factories under the initiative of Sheikh Hasina government is very clear to the workers working there. Earlier there was no training in garments to deal with disasters. Now several factories are conducting multiple trainings a year. The owner is conducting various awareness programs about what to do in case of fire, sometimes other things to do. There is no 'fussing' about salary and bonus as before. If the workers have any problem now they can also complain to the management. In fact, according to the demands of two alliances of foreign buyers, Accord and Alliance, fire safety, electrical safety, building safety, everything has to be kept in operation by following modern methods.
According to Bangabandhu's 'Unfinished Autobiography' and other works, before 1971 Pakistan was full of workers' walk in jute mills, textile mills and sugar mills. Even though these large industrial factories could not see the face of profit after independence, small and medium industries have been established in this country on a large scale. Workers in these new factories next to Garments are new to the labor market. And all together, the number of women workers is now large. But no labor colony was built around the garment factories. For example, colonies used to exist around jute mills or textile mills. Workers now live in urban slums, underdeveloped areas adjacent to factories. But once upon a time there was provision of accommodation colony, medical allowance etc. for the workers of jute and textile industry. However, the rent of the worker's house, medicine and medical expenses, the monthly wage of at least 8 thousand taka for a family of four has been fixed during the Sheikh Hasina government.
Author: Professor, Department of Bengali; Jagannath University