Posted in Celebrations, Culture, Flora, Food, Holidays, Travel & Tourism, tagged agave fields, castillo, construction workers, Día de los Trabajadores, Día del Trabajo, Día Internacional de los Trabajadores, International Workers' Day, labor, Labour Day, May Day, Mexico, mezcal palenque, Oaxaca, photos, vendors, workers on May 1, 2019| 6 Comments »
Happy International Workers Day!
Food vendors at the mercado in Teotitlán del Valle
Fireworks castillo builders in Oaxaca de Juárez
Flower vendor in the Villa de Zaachila market
Teamsters unloading maguey piñas near Santiago Matatlán
Snack vendor on market day in Tlacolula de Matamoros
Construction worker preparing a new roof, Oaxaca de Juárez
Life… brought to you by the workers of the world.
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Exhibitions, Holidays, Museums, People, Travel & Tourism, tagged art, artists, Día de los Trabajadores, Día del Trabajo, Día Internacional de los Trabajadores, Diego Rivera, International Workers' Day, labor, May Day, Mexico, Mexico City, murals, paintings, photographs, photos, Secretaría de Educación Pública, Secretariat of Public Education, workers on May 1, 2018| 2 Comments »
Today is International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, and in cities and towns all over the world (except the USA, but that’s another story), workers and the dignity of the work they do is being celebrated. It’s a federal holiday in Mexico and as I write, I can hear loudspeakers from the various marches taking place in Oaxaca city. Given that non-citizens are forbidden by the Mexican Constitution from participating in political activity, I’m staying home. However, to honor the workers of the world, I’m looking back to my visit to the Secretaría de Educación Pública (Secretariat of Public Education) building in Mexico City and the murals of Diego Rivera.
…Let the winds lift your banners from far lands
With a message of strife and of hope:
Raise the Maypole aloft with its garlands
That gathers your cause in its scope….
…Stand fast, then, Oh Workers, your ground,
Together pull, strong and united:
Link your hands like a chain the world round,
If you will that your hopes be requited.
When the World’s Workers, sisters and brothers,
Shall build, in the new coming years,
A lair house of life—not for others,
For the earth and its fulness is theirs.
Walter Crane, The Workers’ Maypole, 1894
¡Feliz Día del Trabajo a tod@s! Happy International Workers’ Day to all!
Posted in Celebrations, Economics, History, Holidays, Labor, tagged 19.5 Million Mexicans Are Tethered To The Minimum Salary, Día de los Trabajadores, Día del Trabajo, Día Internacional de los Trabajadores, holiday, International Workers' Day, labor, labor statistics, May Day, Mexico, minimum wage, Oaxaca, Peter W. Davis, photographs, photos, The Lowest In The Americas, workers on May 1, 2015| 4 Comments »
It’s International Workers’ Day and workers all over the globe are marching.
They march to celebrate past victories; they march to proclaim the dignity of work; they march to defend the right to collective bargaining; they march to demand living wages and safe working conditions; and they march to secure a better future for their children.
If you have any doubts about why workers in Mexico are marching today: 19.5 Million Mexicans Are Tethered To The Minimum Salary, The Lowest In The Americas. According to the article (translated from the original Spanish by Peter W. Davis),
Mexico has a minimum wage of around 69 pesos a day ($4.50 US), the lowest in Latin America….the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean placed Mexico as the only country with a minimum wage below the poverty line. Furthermore 14% of employees receive a salary even lower than this minimum.
It’s no wonder that, as I write, there are marches converging on Oaxaca’s zócalo from points north, south, east, and west. When I was out and about an hour ago, I ran into healthcare workers from as far away as Tuxtepec, in the northeast of the state, and Huatulco, in the southwest.
¡Feliz Día del Trabajo a tod@s! The struggle continues…
Posted in Celebrations, Economics, History, Holidays, Labor, People, Politics, tagged Día de los Trabajadores, Día del Trabajo, Día Internacional de los Trabajadores, holiday, International Workers' Day, labor, Lila Downs, Mary Harris Jones, May Day, Mexico, Mother Jones, Oaxaca, video, workers on May 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Even though the significance of May 1, as International Workers’ Day, had its origin in the USA, it is not celebrated there (for a variety of reasons I won’t go into here). However, like most countries in the world, Día del Trabajo is a national holiday in Mexico. To honor labor everywhere, here is Oaxaca’s favorite daughter singing her song, “Mother Jones.”
“Pray for the dead, but fight like Hell for the living.” — Mary Harris Jones (aka, Mother Jones, the miners’ angel)
Mexican Peso Converter
