Tunisia: Call to Embrace Work Ethics on Labour Day

May 1st marked International Labour Day around the world and Tunisian bloggers grasped the occasion to comment on the situation of workers and their laziness.

Writing in French, Yellow reflects on the day saying:

Il faut y penser non… une journée mondiale pour les chômeurs, pour le chômage… pour les manifestants, pour les syndicaux… et pour les papas aussi (fête internationale je veux dire) et pourquoi pas une journée internationale pour chaque pays (à part celle de qui fête l'indépendance ou celle qui a marqué l'histoire d'un peuple comme le 7 novembre chez nous..huh^^)

We have to think about it, no?…an international day for the unemployed, for unemployment .. For the protesters, for trade unionists and for fathers too (an international day I mean) and why not an international day for each country ? ( apart from [a country's] national independence day or one which marks the history of its people like November the 7th here …uhhh !!

In a post written in the Tunisian dialect, Clandestine offers the following advice to workers:

نحب بالمناسبة هاذي نشدّ على ايدين العمال و المزارعين (منعرفش علاش العبارة هاذي تحسسني اني شيوعي) و جموع الموظفين في الارض و المدرّسين و الاطباء و الفراملة و الاعوان الوقتيين (المصنفين و غير المصنفين) و الاعوان المتعاقدين و الاعوان الغير متعاقدين وعملة الحضائر (اللي مازالو يستنّاو في الترسيم ) و صنّاع الحجامة و صناع ورشات الميكانيك و صناع المقاهي والمطاعم (خاصة ذوي الخلق الحسن مع الحريف) و بعض صنّاع القرار اللي مازال عندهم شويّة ضمير.
و نحب كذلك ننصح الجميع (و انا معاكم) باش ينقّصو من التكركير و الفصعة وماكلة الكسكروتات و شرب القهوة و التاي بالكاكاوية في البيروات و يركّزو شوية على الخدم متاعهم … هي صحيح تشخر اما ميسالش, منزيدوهاش بوف
On this occasion, I want to take the hands of the workers and farmers (I don’t even know why this expression gives the impression that I am a communist), and the hands of all the employees around the world, the teachers, the physicians, the nurses, and the temporary employees – those with contracts as well as those who do not have contracts yet, the construction workers, the hairdressers, the mechanics, the waiters
(especially those who are kind to customers), and some of the decision-makers who still have some conscience …
I also advise them (me included) to stop being lazy, skipping work, eating sandwiches, drinking coffee and tea with peanuts in their offices and focus instead on their work.

Arabasta writes a short post saying:

تحية لكل من قدّم حياته يوما من اجل العمّال و سحقا لكل من نسِيَ هذه التضحيات يوما ما…
عذرا لقصر هذه التدوينة إذ لا تسعني الكلمات اليوم كي أعبر عما يختلج بصدري عندما أرى أوضاع العمّال و الشغالين في كل أنحاء العالم…
My greetings to everyone who has one day sacrificed his life for workers, and those who ever forget those sacrifices should be damned. I am sorry for the shortness of this post – words cannot describe my feelings in the face of what workers around the world suffer from nowadays.

Happy Labor Day to all workers around the globe!

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