May Day 2024: Justice for all

THE EDITOR: On May 1, workers and their trade unions here in Trinidad and Tobago will be joining millions of workers around the world in celebrating International Workers’ Day, better known as May Day, in recognition of the eight-hour workday.

The struggle for the eight-hour workday was a long and enduring one. This struggle reached a climax on May 1, 1886, at Haymarket Square, Chicago, Illinois, USA, where government forces attacked striking workers, leading to a riot. The leaders of the workers’ movement were arrested and executed by the state. In recognition of this epic struggle for an eight-hour workday, May 1 was established as May Day and formally recognised as an annual event in 1891.

Now, the question that is asked today is why millions of workers around the world and thousands of workers in TT continue to recognise International Workers' Day (May 1). Well, we only have to look at our current existing social relations and the economic power structures within our contemporary society and it becomes obvious. Built into this system is the rate of exploitation created by the social relations between the buyer (employer) and the seller (worker) of labour power and the conditions and limitations of the exchange between the two. Therefore, it becomes fundamental to determine the limitations of time given to the buyer of a person’s labour power.

The eight-hour workday is the struggle for the value of labour-power, and today, thousands of workers still have long outstanding negotiations and job evaluations. These long delays further reduce the value of labour power and, therefore, enable employers to enjoy the benefits of more surplus value at the expense of workers.

In this context, this year, the trade union movement chose as its theme for May Day "Unite To Fight, One Movement! One Voice! Justice for All!" The theme signifies three critical elements: one, the need to continue a united struggle; second, that the movement is seen as having one voice; and third, that justice is still out of the reach of many thousands of workers and remains a fundamental demand of the trade union movement.

OZZI WARWICK

Treasurer/chief education and research officer,

Oilfields Workers' Trade Union