Mayday

Mayday, the 1st May every year is earmarked as international Labor Day or worker’s day. In fact we associate the Mayday with Haymarket affairs in Chicago, in the year 1886. But it has its root in Australia, where since 1856 “worker’s holiday” concept crystallized. This idea spread across the world. However, later May 1st has been declared “worker’s day” to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affairs, where to disperse the peaceful rally of workers, police opened fire and killed four of them. It is fallout of achievement in international labour movements and reorganization of 8 hours work-a-day for labour.
How the workers are all over the world? Are they truly free from the bonded laborhood or slavery? The answer is clearly “NO”. The only status of labour is changed not the terms. Of course there are fortunates few, who work in organized sectors, still enjoy the freedom that conferred on them in the spirit of May Day, but vast majorities are deprived of free labour status, either by indirect pressure or under their own compulsions like low wages.
Let us see the new breed of software engineers. Most of them are qualified engineers, earlier they use to be absorbed in managerial or supervisory posts by most of the industries. But now, the biggest employer is software industries and they just take them as tech-labors. In most of the renowned companies they work anything between 10-14 hours a day, without any extra wage and always under peer compulsions. You hear the stories or read in newspaper that many of them developing psychological disorders in short or long run failing to cope up with their demanding job. They make interesting reading but difficult to face as a sufferer or his/her family member.
Not only such stories you find with software industries, almost all the industries have similar stories to tell. So the days of slavery are back again; though in a different way. There is no threat of whip; pink-slip has replaced it.