The day is of huge significance, for very obvious social and political reasons. In a very important way, the struggle that has been waged by successive generations of workers, peasants and other deprived sections of society has been indicative of the strides that yet need to be made in order for us to attain acceptable heights of progress. The spate of industrialization that has gone on in these past two decades has certainly brought about a degree of qualitative change in the lives of the poor. There are, however, the frequent hints of what remains to be done. The recent agitation by jute mills workers in Khulna, for very legitimate reasons, highlights the difficulties that the working classes in Bangladesh still face. Add to that the fairly regular complaints by workers in the garments industry about the deprivations they suffer from.

On this day, let it be our collective goal to ensure a happy, exploitation-free society for ourselves in Bangladesh. It is a task we can accomplish through a strict adherence to all the international conventions relating to a promotion and upholding of labour laws. In a country defined by poverty, nothing can be more important than ensuring the dignity of those who earn their living by the sweat of their brow.