National Labour Day 2015 to Focus on Children

Safeguarding the welfare of the nation’s children will be the focus of activities for National Labour Day 2015, under the theme: ‘Labour of Love, Nurturing Our Children’.

The day will be observed on Monday, May 25. The national project is the upgrading of the Rudolph Elder Park in Morant Bay, St. Thomas, to create a safe recreational space for children.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, said that the occasion will “gives focus to the need for Jamaicans to work together to protect our children who, sadly, have in recent times increasingly become targets of abuse and murder.”

She was speaking at the official launch of Labour Day and Workers’ Week today (May 4) at Jamaica House.

“This year, we are utilising Labour Day to take a united stand and declare with one voice ‘no more abusing of our children, no more killing of innocent little children’. Instead, let us join hands and hearts in creating spaces for them to enjoy their childhood years,” the Prime Minister said.

She noted that the day will be used to promote family values and to remind Jamaicans of the need to give life to the proverb ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

Mrs. Simpson Miller appealed to Jamaicans to join the cause and be a part of communities working together to renew the spirit of volunteerism “in a national labour of love, nurturing our children.”

Minister of Youth and Culture, Hon. Lisa Hanna, encouraged Jamaicans to identify a community centre or park where children-friendly spaces can be created.

“We want to create spaces that engender family togetherness so that by the end of May 25, when we officially observe Labour Day, we would have developed more areas in each parish or community; spaces that can accommodate picnics, play spaces, relaxing havens and where the entire family, but particularly, the young ones, can have safe and fun experiences,” Ms. Hanna said.

She noted that while activities across the island may vary, the emphasis should be on the protection of children and youth.

The National Labour Day Thanksgiving Service will be held on May 17 at the Greater Grace Temple, 65a Deanery Road, Kingston.

Workers’ Week, which will be observed from May 17 to 25, provides time for reflection on the labour uprisings of the 1930s and the sacrifices made by workers locally and regionally to gain freedom and rights, notably the freedom to representation at work.