EDITORIAL - A sacred day for laborers

As the country prepares for the Labor Day celebration on Tuesday, militant labor groups are now also busy planning a mass action against what they claim as the continuing abuse committed against the daily wage workers.

In Cebu, local labor groups are gearing up to stage a huge protest that would greet President Rodrigo Duterte who will reportedly celebrate May 1 in Cebu City by attending a Labor Day event in Barangay Mabolo.

We can expect the failure of the Duterte administration to fulfill the promise the president made during the campaign period to end labor contractualization in the country as the main subject of the Labor Day protest.

Labor Day is supposedly a celebration to honor the workers’ contribution as a vital part in nation-building. It is supposed to be the most sacred day for the millions of laborers whose sweat and blood have kept the country’s economic machine turning.

In other countries, especially in the Western World, Labor Day is a form of celebration in which it has been common for the government and the business and labor sectors to share ideas about the need to improve the workers’ condition.

However, in this country, there has never been any effort to draw the government and the business and labor sectors to the negotiating table to discuss labor development. That is because many government officials remain beholden to big companies.

It cannot be denied that hundreds of thousands of workers in the country still receive below the daily minimum wage. In fact, many of them are still living below the threshold of poverty as government support is not enough to uplift their lives.

Labor Day is supposedly celebrated to pay tribute to the working class which has always been the economic heroes as the country is gearing toward a fully-developed economy. We long for the day when even the ordinary workers themselves will be able to live comfortably.