Mayday on Labor Day
On the first day of May, we pause to recognize our workers who toil every day to provide more than a hundred million Filipinos with necessary goods and services.
The food that we eat every day does not fall like manna from heaven. A farmer has to wake up at the wee hours of the morning to till his farm, a fisherman has to row his boat to the sea to catch fish, and several other workers need to report for work to bring the harvest to every family’s dining table.
The Labor Day celebration traces its history to the 19th-century workers’ fight for better working conditions and an 8-hour workday. Workers then had enough injustices, to which they responded by joining forces to fight for their rights. This movement gave rise to labor unions organized by people who grew disillusioned with the capitalists and the government’s denial of their pleas.
This year’s celebration of Labor Day is highlighted with the trials and tribulations that every worker faces during this time of the pandemic. Aside from less-than-ideal working conditions, workers are now confronted with the devastating effects of losing jobs, reduced workdays, pay cuts, and many more brought about by the government-imposed lockdowns and other quarantine restrictions.
After more than one year of hardships, the government still has not found a better strategy for implementing health protocols without causing too much suffering, especially to the most vulnerable sectors of our society.
The Department of Labor and Employment reported that close to four million workers in the country and abroad were affected by the pandemic in 2020. The current unemployment figure may have worsened now that we are facing another wave of infection.
During this time of the crisis, the ball is with the government to bring back the working conditions to normalcy or closer to the old normal. The best way to honor our workers may not be by raising their daily wages, although it is most welcome, but for the government to improve its pandemic response.
True, every country’s vaccination program, which is the most feasible solution, is threatened by the lack of vaccine supplies. The administration should not just tell its people to endure the suffering some more. It must find ways.
The President has repeatedly said that we have the money for the vaccines and other supplies for the pandemic response. Although most of these funds are from borrowings, the consoling thing is that the Philippines is still a creditworthy country. Therefore, we cannot conveniently use as an excuse that we belong to the poorest of the poor countries. With the availability of these resources, what else do we need? Judging from how other countries managed their response, we miserably lack strategy and foresight.
The government should not just dismiss the workers’ call for government action as a mere display of activism. The distress call is real, and every time it falls on deaf ears, it means a life perishes, and an innocent, helpless child loses a bright future.