Minister unveils theme of 138th edition of Labour Day.

He announced in the statement that the theme for this year’s Labour Day is: “Constructive social dialogue vector of decent work and social progress”.

The minister in the note informed owners of private companies, public enterprises and parastatals wishing to take part in the march past exercise to mark the day that registration is free.

Registrations, the member government noted, opened April 8 and will close on April 26. He stated that Ministries, Public Establishments and Parastatals are registering at the Centre Regional Delegation of Labour and Social Security for the Centre while private companies are registering at the different Trade Union Confederations.

To ensure a hitch-free organisation of the event, he insisted that private companies, public establishments, parastatals and administrations shall will not be allowed to register no more than 50 workers.

To note that, the Day will be observed in Cameroon amid tension in some companies between management and staff over unpaid salaries. 

This is the case with institutions such as the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LABOGENIE, the National Shipyard Engineering Company and National Civil Engineering Equipment Pool, MATGENIE among others. 

Teachers too have been last year and the first months of this year been on government’s throat over certain benefits. 

The International Labour Day, it should be said, is a day set aside to celebrate workers and push for better work conditions. 

It was first instituted in1793 in France. It was celebrated in the US every January 1 until the Congress of that country in 1884 that saw the American union heed to the plea of workers for eight hours of work a day.

On May 1, 1886, a union mounted pressure and assembled some 200,000 workers to fight for the eight hours working period. 

The protest is said to have led to the death of three workers. Three years later, the social international group proposed to make May 1 a symbolic day.