It is Worker’s Day and, like many other countries, Malta will be celebrating it today. Well, perhaps one should say that the major political parties are doing so.

The Nationalist Party has moved away from the more traditional demonstrations and meetings, preferring to discuss workers’ issues in the quiet of a conference hall. They will do so again this morning after the experiment started last year turned out well. On the other hand, the Malta Labour Party will once again take to the streets as it has always done in the past, and this time added a concert with the participation of foreign singers for good measure.

But, at the end of the day, what are we celebrating today?

Worker’s Day, or May Day, has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the working class and labour movement. It celebrates the attainment of improved working conditions and, most of all, the establishment of what are known today as workers’ rights.

Looking back, it must be said that in the developed world, great strides have been made by workers, largely thanks to the unions that represent them, in terms of the above. Malta is no exception. Today, workers enjoy much better conditions and wages than they used to in the past. Unions say that the road is still long and that there will always be occasions when employers try to trample on their employees – and hence the need of unions today too – but at the end of the day they do admit that the situation has evolved in a positive way. And rightly so too.

There is another side to the coin. Yes, it is imperative that work conditions are greatly improved. Yes, it is imperative that wages continue to rise to meet with today’s exigencies. But, what is equally important is that workers realise that the implementation of their rights comes with the fulfilment of their duties.

All workers, from the lowest end of the scale to the top, have a job to do. If that job is not done, then something would be amiss. All jobs are important – as otherwise there would not be such a job – and therefore each cog in the wheel must do its part.

There are workers who realise this, and give their full day’s work to the maximum, and there are others who do not.

There are workers who love what they do and do it in earnest, many times going out of their way in order to get things done properly. For others, a job is like any other job and they trudge along the way looking at their watch every five minutes, and are the first to leave the office when their time is up.

There are workers who take pride in what they do, and are downcast if they commit a mistake or let down their colleagues. For others, it’s as if anything goes and they are not at all committed to what they do, even if their mistakes could be costly from a financial point of view and to their company’s credibility.

There are workers who carry out their work to the letter and do it perfectly. For others, a day of work is like having been asked to climb a mountain and they are always prepared to call in sick at the first sneeze.

Trade unions could play their own part in instilling a better sense of duty among employees.

Because it is good that conditions of work and wages are improved, and that unions spend most of their time negotiating better collective agreements or defending workers whose rights are ignored or suppressed, but at the same time unions must also insist with their members that they have a duty to carry out.