May 1st celebrates Labor Day all over the world, celebrating those who sacrificed their lives for it – and to demand better conditions. That memory lives again today, somewhat tarnished by time and changed contexts, certainly of greater protection, if only in theoretical and predictive terms. However, even today work continues to be a cause of death and precariousness. There is not a day in which deaths are not recorded at work and, in quite a few cases, during job training. The large number of victims can only be partly linked to the poor observance of safety regulations, which also exist.
Today more than ever we are experiencing a tremendous gap between rules and respect for them. The poor compliance with safety criteria is due to various causes, including the need to respect deadlines, subcontracting, carelessness and much more. Remembering May 1st means, first of all, reclaiming safety and dignity in the workplace. It means remembering that work is a tool for living, not for surviving or dying.
The whole debate on the minimum wage, still far from being defined, demonstrates how long and full of pitfalls the road to achieving a decent wage is. At the same time, the dismantling of those shock absorbers – such as citizenship income – which allowed a minimum subsidy to those without work and allowed many to escape the yoke of starvation wages, were promptly dismantled. The consequence is once again the dominance of those who exploit the condition of need by imposing starvation wages and poor protection. The dignity of work also passes through the recovery of economic and human conditions that do not debase the dignity and honor of the worker himself; It also involves the protection and compliance with safety standards that are often disregarded.
A few days ago there was news of a worker being shredded and extracted in pieces from the waste disposal machine. If this was possible, it is only due to failure to comply with the rules. Those who find themselves working, especially in certain contexts, often have as their dictat respect for deadlines even before rules and prohibitions. The less rigidity in terms of regulatory compliance brings with it the dangers that we know about and whose consequences we witness every day. The politicization of May 1st has meant that this holiday, like April 25th, has become a source of division and conflict. Piazza San Giovanni, historical emblem of the Left, is promptly deserted by those on the other side.
Like Liberation Day, May 1st also becomes a battleground and this only weakens the workers more. During the Twenty Years the celebration of May 1st, established already in 1890, was abolished and replaced by the national Labor Day on April 21st.
History repeats itself, in a changed guise, but the result is the same: the stinging attitude of the governing Right towards all those demonstrations that recall the battles waged and won by the other political side, from the defeat of Nazi-fascism to the reclamation and achievement of dignified working conditions. Attempting to whitewash these anniversaries, with the guilty connivance of the media, means attempting to rewrite history, focusing on the short memories of Italians and their atavistic lack of propensity to rebel.
“Forward, people, to the rescue…” continues to be a good starting point for resuming the fight, for claiming rights. And if the “red flag” doesn’t triumph, it doesn’t matter, what matters is the defense of rights and protections to which that banner also contributed.
Massimo Conocchia
