The Champions

 

 

The busy bees of the entire planet working tirelessly in all stints that is given to the champions of nations, where we eat, sleep or work that is filled with the little task makers’ hard work, every work-sector in need of them, not a single step can be done without them, be it small or large, even large machines rely upon them for every help that is needed that makes them stand apart from all bureaucrats, the luxurious and rich people – the ‘working class’ are revered world-wide.

In my institution, every worker besides seeing and speaking to me, wants to touch me, but with hesitation as whether they can do it. I feel that they have strong work Ethics.

The champions are celebrated internationally as the real heroes on ‘Workers Day’ on May 1, also called as ‘May Day’.

“Without labour nothing prospers”                         – Sophocles

“The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it”                                                        - Mother Teresa

It’s a day where they are given rest from usual labour, opportunity to celebrate their achievements, proclaim for their rights and show solidarity with other working people.

“No human masterpiece has been created without great labour”                                                                    - Andre Gide

   

“Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having except as a result of hard 

work”                                            -  Booker.T.Washington

“Nothing will work unless you do”                     – Maya Angelou

                                                                           

Community health workers

They are public health workers who interlink communities with their health care system and health department, serve and support health system as a volunteer or paid aide. They are role models for promoting, encouraging healthy self-care and management, understand and follow up. The work ethics are basic for the workers to fall in line with appearance, dedication, determination, attitude, character communication skills, co-operation, organisational skills, respect, productivity and team work.

At St.Britto’s, a fancy dress competition with role play was organised and the students participated actively depicting the qualities of workers in general, like simplicity, hard work, dedication, compassion for their fellow workers. The students also learnt that workers should be respected with dignity and treated well, appreciated, stress free environment and trusted at all times. 

They also learned the different types of works done by workers in every field of jobs like in agriculture where the work done is ploughing, weeding, sowing the seeds, winnowing etc.; the engineering field requires workers in masonry, paving the brick layers, cementing, cooling the bricks and tiles, transferring the bricks, cement and other things related to building work done by woman workers. Manual labour is needed in medical field, carpentry, electrical works, painting, plumbing works, educational field, office related jobs, house-keeping jobs, hotel industry, chemical factories, driving, domestic sewage and manhole cleaning to name a few.  

“Without labour nothing prospers.” This was proved at St. Britto’s where the students learnt the importance of Workers Day by showing their ‘gratitude’ and they presented the workers of school with ‘self-made handicrafts’ like flowers, badges, ‘thank you’ cards, etc., The students also learned to respect them by means of a decent gesture -  to salute the labourers by knowing their contributions in every aspect of cleanliness in the school and to recognise their dignity in their life. 

The students had a “Hands on” activity at the school premises where they performed the basic duties of the workers by sweeping the floor, cleaning the classrooms, library,  ground and also watering the plants in the garden.
The students also pledged to respect and care for workers in their life and it was a day to realise their value as they helped serving the breakfast and lunch to them with the help of teachers. However, technology has advanced certain jobs or work needed to be operated manually by man. The following quotes insist this value as“All labour that uplifts humanity has dignity” – rightly said by Martin Luther King.

“Pleasure in job puts perfection in the work”                    – Aristotle

Psychological or emotional stress of Workers

The workers breakdown after an unexpected failure in their personal as well as professional life. They sometimes tend to expect more freedom than they need and dream about them as well. The jobs include physical tasks straining their body which is sometimes challenging and proves dangerous to their lives. Their expectation to be paid in a respectable way drives empathy in the minds of every individual in the world.

They are usually hard working, skilled, creative with an aesthetic appeal for the end products and capable of grasping the symbolic manipulation in the work spot.

St. Britto’s had a review session with the manual labourers were asked to share their views about the nature of their jobs, how they felt, whether it was satisfying and  they were paid well to lead a debit-less life and so on. Some expressed that their jobs were really tough to deal with, while some of them were satisfied with their jobs as they also had the privilege of enjoying manual labour like planting trees, trimming, edgings and outdoor lawn mowing that lead to immense satisfaction. 

It was discussed as to why some overqualified and educated persons too took to manual jobs in their life. This basically involved less mental stress and they didn’t want to carry over the job to home, with freedom to decide their job preference and having to work in shifts gave them some time to relax and enjoy with their family.

There were some jobs which were stress free where there were no deadlines, risk of injury and physical demands like hair styling, audiology, medical sonography, jewellery making, medical record preservation etc.,

Blue Collar Jobs

Some manual jobs involve physical strength initially, but become tough in due course of time with high demand. The jobs pay minimum wages but sought for specialist skills. They need no education but experience in jobs is a must. Because the jobs involve regular activity and it is good for the health of workers and labourers but causes health problems later. It sometimes has the advantage of undergoing only less stress and offers a better work-life balance.

Sometimes, mainly, the workers or labourers are not given proper wages, any chances of early retirement owing to ill health, with no motivation for higher levels and lagging in safety measurements depending on the particular field are some factors that affects their growth. 

The values learnt by the students is to know about the work ethics, problem-solving capabilities, collaboration and co-ordination, resilience, time-management, hard work etc., from the employer’s side as well creates amicable relationship with the employees.

The Future of Workers

There are some basic rights for the workers to protect them, devoid of social indiscrimination like proper salary, granting leave and  benefits like provident fund, gratuity, maternity benefits, protection from sexual harassments etc., But workers outside an organisation like manual labour cannot enjoy these benefits. But a mindful employer with compassion and conscience can treat these workers with due love, respect and dignity.

With the champions, seen around my campus as butterflies, I feel privileged to have them, where the little ones learn to respect them with dignity and humanity.

 

Testimonial

I am Krishna, Pursuing III B.Com in SRM Institute of Science and Technology. By watching the ‘Workers Day’ programme in class IX, I learned to respect people in all walks of life, also know the work ethics and adopted it in a project assignment titled ‘Labour Management’. The most important value for any worker is time management which I kept aside in school and again starting with punctuality, I now realise it is an important part of everyone’s life and have inculcated in mine too, by being regular to the college. So, where ever I go, I have learnt to treat workers with dignity and humanity.