International Workers Day
International Workers’ Day; commonly known as Labour Day or May Day in some countries and regions, is marked on the 1st of May of every year. Labour Day as referred to in our case, is celebration of labourers and the working classes as promoted by the international labour movement. It stems from the efforts of the labour union movement to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers where some groups opt to do it through organized parades or protests, to promote and protect workers' rights.
Globally, organization and governance of work is changing rapidly with the economic, demographic, technological and environmental trends. These changes have deteriorated hard won rights of workers in formal employment pushing them into temporary and self-employed work arrangements. In order to be able to contribute to improving this situation, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) advocates for the formation and strengthening of worker co-operatives, which is a form of enterprise that is run and managed by and for the workers who own the capital, vote as equal members on matters related to running the business and have the right to stand for a leadership position through election. The worker co-operatives have proven to be sustainable enterprise and have a good record in terms of productivity and job preservation.
As we celebrate Labour Day, 2017 co-operatives in Africa should continue to join hands with trade unions and come up with a joint strategy for continuing to advocate for the protection of workers’ rights, that will focus on a number of issues that are taking place in the world of work, including but not limited to flexibility of labour, loss of jobs, privatization and deteriorating workers rights. The trade unions have indeed made some milestones regarding work legislation and practices at workplaces, and a number of negotiations with employee’ unions specifically on agreements recognition, wages, and conditions of service, workplace restructuring and retrenchments have led to some improvements.
We call upon all persons within the co-operative movement in Africa, particularly worker co-operatives who are recognizing and celebrating this day to keep in mind that we all still have quite a task to fulfill in the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, particularly Goal number 8 which is dedicated to promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
“Securing Decent Work for Sustainable Social-Economic Development’’
A very Happy Labour Day from the Alliance Africa
