International Workers’ Day this year is coming in the midst of a global pandemic when work safety and health of the frontline and essential workers in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic have now become a pressing issue. And also the safety of limitedly opened industrial workers is becoming an issue now, as the garments industries are resuming production with the promise of ensuring social distancing and safety in workplaces.

International Workers’ Day, commonly known as Labour Day is celebrated annually on 1 May to celebrate the working class and laborers across the world. Socialists and labor unions celebrate this day by organizing programs to improve wages and the working conditions of the workforce. Human rights organizations and many other organizations also observe the day in solidarity with the working-class people. In Bangladesh, it is a public holiday, and many government and non-government organizations observe the day with various events.

Environmental and Social Development Organization (ESDO) has observed International Workers’ Day every year since the formation of the organization by honoring the workers and professionals in different fields. Awareness campaign activities on workers’ rights related to work safety and a healthy environment at work had been organized on this occasion previously. This year, the campaign takes place indoors with the online platform during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Two posters and awareness materials on workplace safety have been released on the occasion.

Since the start of this year, the world is adjusting to the new reality of living with the COVID-19 pandemic to fight with. And for the first time in decades, there shall be no processions or parades or mass demonstrations on the occasion around the world. But people around the world will be working on the clock as doctors, nurses, paramedics, health workers, cleaners, essential delivery persons, police, drivers, and many more to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives. In recent days, the number of doctors, nurses, and health workers infected with the Novel Coronavirus is on the rise in Bangladesh. Also, journalists who are working to collect news in the fields are getting infected too. There are numbers of death among these cases as well. The lack of proper and sufficient Personal Safety equipment (PPE) has been a crying need in the country since the start.

Though that crisis has been covered with the government’s initiative, still workplace safety is not ensured due to lack of public awareness and negligence among the general people.

Also, garments industries have resumed their operations despite the rise in the number of Novel Coronavirus infected cases, and many garment workers are risking their lives to travel back to their workplaces in fear of losing their jobs. Though the owners of the factories are promising to maintain social distancing in the factories and not to lay off the workers who are staying in remote places due to the shutdown situation, the general workers commonly are not convinced. They are traveling back even if the long-distance public transports are shut down; also they are not concerned about keeping a social distance while traveling. This situation has spiked the risk of spreading the disease massively in the population.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the way we handle our waste and its impact on those that are most vulnerable to its exposure. For millions of people who make a living in the informal sector, isolation measures that guarantee their safety pose a dramatic threat to their livelihoods. People in the informal waste sector, are now facing a grave threat. 8 lakh informal waste workers and their families risk losing their livelihood due to the current pandemic. Those who do the critical yet thankless role of collecting and sorting our waste and recyclables without formal recognition and protections from their municipalities are now also out of food and thus forced to go back to their work mostly without sufficient protection.

World Health Organization (WHO) also has reiterated the need of ensuring workplace safety and healthcare for all of these working people regularly.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, which from a positive perspective has shown the importance of a sense of
empathy, social responsibility, and practicing a healthy lifestyle? But the negligence among the public is putting our whole nation at risk of a massive Novel Corona Virus outbreak. If this irresponsible practice continues, this overall could make public health even more susceptible to getting weaker in immunity to the infection.

All the activist organizations around the world including Environment and Social Development Organization (ESDO) urge everyone to think about the social responsibility and lifestyle choices which are harmful to the planet we are living in, and to embrace a healthy and environment-friendly lifestyle which in turn would save our own lives too.