So, another International Labour Day has come and gone, with some of the expected, some of the usual, and some of the exciting. Probably some of the most exciting events this May 1 have been taking place in the United States, which, along with Canada, refuses to recognize International Labour Day and holds its own official holiday in September. Perhaps this has to do with the events of May, 1886?
In any case, a national day of action including a work stoppage and an economic boycott ('gran paro nacional') was called for May 1, 2006 by the strong and growing immigrant and undocumented workers' movement in the United States. In what was called "A Day Without an Immigrant", businesses were urged to close, workers to not go to work, and students to not go to schools, in solidarity with the struggles of immigrants and undocumented workers in the US. The most prominent themes in earlier demonstrations seem to have been to highlight migrants' position in the US economy as workers, and also as equal members of society.
The most conservative reports have said that at least one million people across the US participated in the actions, while other reports have said at least twice that number. Reports in the business press are calling the events of May 1 a demonstration of economic clout by migrant workers.
In other places, since this is the designated 'labour day' and at least officially a public holiday for most of the rest of the world, it perhaps wasn't surprising that large rallies took place all across the planet, and Asia was no exception. There's too much to report on, of course, so here are just a few of some of the interesting actions and occurences I heard about...
In India a reported crowd of around 100,000 marched in Kolkata, while a separate demonstration in the city saw around 4,000 sex workers participating and calling for social justice. In neighbouring Sri Lanka, however, there was a "voluntary decision" by concerned parties to call off May Day rallies, due to fears over the escalating violence in the country. In Japan, some two million people are estimated to have joined labour rallies across the country, including hundreds who participated in a demonstration held by temporary, part-time and unemployed workers for the second year running. As people prepared to demonstrate in Malaysia, the government there "vowed" to suppress workplace strikes and cut them "to zero". In the Philippines the history of May 1 struggles continued with a large rally in Manila... actions by workers and organizations also took place in Palestine, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand...
So how about here in Hong Kong? A march of about 1,000-2,000 people, more than half of whom were migrant workers from Indonesia and the Philippines, gathered in Victoria Park and marched to the Central Government Offices, after which a number of performances and speeches were given. Although the mood was generally positive and lively, the relative absence of local Chinese workers was once again very evident. Indeed, the ability of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) to organize people to come out even during a completely risk-free time such as International Labour Day seems to be diminishing every year (the HKCTU contingent was about 300 people, generously speaking), overshadowed by migrant workers' organizations, who consistently bring out thousands of people even though they face significantly greater obstacles and risks to organizing.
What does this mean? To a hopeful cynic like myself, it points to the increasing irrelevance of a union federation as it is organized by HKCTU. While the group is relatively flushed with resources, and has a number of excellent organizers and committed individuals involved, it seems to not be able to identify or effectively address the deteriorating work situation for most people over here. It seems that a 'traditional' union, organizing in different industrial sectors or among people with long-term contract jobs for example, won't seem relevant to the increasing number of part time, casual, temporary, non-contract, undocumented, or unemployed workers as is happening in Hong Kong. Indeed, even getting a day off to demonstrate on the public holiday of May 1 seemed like a privilege when we walked through the streets, looking at retail and service industry workers going through one of their busiest workdays, and hearing from organizers that many more migrant domestic workers would have come out but most of their employers give them either zero or significantly reduced holidays.
So what is the hopeful part? If not a traditional 'trade-union' (a "trad-union"?), then what kind of organizing would be more relevant to us and to the majority of people in our city? Perhaps we can learn from some of the organizing that has been taking place in the US, or the much smaller rally in Japan, or even our own local organizing among migrant workers. Rather than focusing on the protection of relative privilege such as long-term job contracts, and rights for those with documented or 'full' immigration status, these campaigns have directly or indirectly, seem to confront the issues of class, work and labour as issues of exploitation.
To me they do this either by directly organizing against increased attacks on the rights already won by working people (attacks which most of us are experiencing through increased 'casualization', no-contracts, diminished pay, longer working hours, more temporary part-time staff, and unemployment), or directly campaigning against the extreme vulnerability of workers due to their undocumented status (or in the case of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, due to their 'special' immigration status). These are issues that 'trad unions' here in HK may have mentioned but either haven't been able to address or come to terms with. And crucially, of course, the campaigns I've mentioned feature central involvement by people facing the brunt of this exploitation themselves rather than from some union federation bureaucracy.
So, to end a long rambling story, exploitation seems to me to be at the heart of labour issues under capitalism (or state socialism) and thus seems to be an effective place to start organizing.
Wow, what a great and completely original conclusion that has never been mentioned before.
Having taken the long road to that ridiculously obvious point, I'm now going to do what we all need to do... get off my ass and do something!!!
Happy May 1!
As the commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising and massacre draws nearer, dizzidenza once again aims to remember the spirit of the uprising... not through candlelight vigils or mourning, but by occupying and using an area of public space on the anniversary of the June 4 crackdown... For more information see dizzidenza's notice below, check the website that it links to, and contact them to find out more!!
