Its International Labour Day today, one of those days marked on calendars in many countries and which is, or should be a celebration of the social and economic achievements of workers. Problem is not many workers or should we say labourers have reason to celebrate.

There are undoubtedly a good number of people who are happy with their jobs but you and I both know the vast majority of the rest of us are not happy with our current jobs. And there are many reasons for that. Some countries have labour laws, workers’ unions and similar systems that fight for workers’ rights.
 
But in many places, especially in the developing world, many workers don’t even know their rights. For the most part, people are just happy to get a job.

 Working conditions may not be the best but as long as one has something to do, nothing else matters much. We’ve come to accept all manner of inhumane treatment and you don’t hear many people complaining about tough working conditions.

But today, allow me to voice my dissatisfaction and along with that, a few requests to my employers and perhaps employers of people like me.

 Less working time
You know how especially in the developing world people only work for a certain number of hours and there are shifts? You can also choose between full-time and part-time jobs and if you choose the latter, it doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t make good money.

I’m not lazy but I’d be happy to work 7 hours a day, max. That would be 9 to 4pm, which is realistic. The remaining hours would accommodate tea and lunch breaks, which every normal person deserves. In the event that I put in extra hours, I would expect to be paid for the overtime.

 Minimum wage
The absence of this has allowed many employers to rip their employers off. How else do you explain earning a salary that can’t even cover your basic needs like food and transport for the entire month? Month after month, you have to scrape, sometimes having to borrow to make ends meet.

Even where there’s a minimum wage, it’s too low. When are we ever going to earn enough to have a little fun, build our own houses and take our children to good schools?  How about you pay us decent salaries to match the loads of work we put in?

 Benefits
Everyone has their own definition of benefits. But I’m talking about things like lunch, transport, health insurance and bonus for exemplary performance. A 5,000Rwf airtime recharge card every two weeks or so, fuel for those with cars or just a weekend allowance would be nice.

I was disappointed recently when my employer didn’t facilitate any of us for the Easter weekend or even pay us early since the end of month was just a week away.

I know a few people who get gift vouchers to do a little shopping for such holidays and it doesn’t have to be millions.

 Leave
For some reason, some bosses deny their employees leave. No sick days, no days off, no breaks whatsoever. And if you do decide to take a day off, either because you’re exhausted or you lost someone, you’re penalized.

My salary has been cut a couple of times for those very reasons, and I’ve heard of extreme cases where some people were fired. The funny thing is that these same people who deny us these breaks spend more time away than at work and also take extended vacations, usually out of the country.

Dear bosses, we’re not asking for vacations, though there would be no harm in that.

A day off every other week will not run the business down. Neither will a trip to the national park or lunch at a good hotel for all your staff to celebrate a particularly good quarter. Your treat of course! Did you say in my dreams?

To be continued…
nsophie77@yahoo.com