Every year on 1st May, International Labour Day is celebrated by the socialists and labour unions at the international level. Officially famous by the name ‘International Workers Day’, the International Labour Day is also known as ‘May Day’. Primarily, this day is entirely dedicated to the labourers and workers across the world in order to promote and motivate the international labour associations.
This day is observed in remembrance of the 1866 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago when several workers were on a general strike for their eight-hour work day when all of a sudden a bomb was thrown by an unidentified person. The reaction to this was that the Chicago Police started firing over the innocent workers and demonstrators as well.
The objective of observing this day is to celebrate the end of the struggle faced by the labour community due to the severe and lengthy 10-16 working hours in the earlier times and to promote the requirement of 8 working hours.
The celebration of International Labour Day holds historical significance for the worker community and is celebrated by the labour unions worldwide. International Labour Day which is declared as a traditional spring holiday in the Europe, is a National holiday in nearly 80 countries across the world. International Labour Organisation (ILO), an agency situated in the United Nations (UN), was established in the year 1919 to deal with the issues faced by the labourers at the international level.
Tips to celebrate International Labour Day:
- Tell your child about different types of professions and the role that several community helpers play in our daily lives.
- Teach her to be polite and courteous to the domestic helpers and other helpers such as watchman, peons, ayahs etc. at school.
- Tell her to respect all the domestic helpers and never be rude to them.
- Encourage her to use the three magic words ‘Thank You’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Please’ with all the helpers, whenever required.
- Strictly discourage the concept of ‘Child Labour’ by not hiring children below 14 years both at home and at work place.
- Tell her to treat everyone as equal and not to discriminate people on the basis of the work they perform.
- Organise a role-play activity and encourage the children of your locality to enact the role played by different domestic and community helpers such as milkman, postman, newspaper vendor, gardener, watchman, housemaids, houseboys etc.
So, celebrate International Labour Day with your child and make her realise the significant contributions made by the workers/helpers and make this day a special one for the labourers.
