A MAY DAY UNLIKE ANY OTHER IN RECENT TIMES
What you need to know:
- As the world marks May 1, popularly known as Workers’ Day, different employee unions across the country are cognizant of the current situation that many employed individuals are going through.
May Day usually comes with a host of activities globally and nationally, most of which highlight the milestones achieved in the ‘work industry’, with many touting different causes aimed at making the workplace is safe and better space for all.
2022, however, it is universally agreed that May Day might evoke emotions that are unlike any seen in the recent past. This is due to one big thing: the rising cost of living. Across the world, times are hard and economies have been hard hit by various factors.
As the world is still grappling with the Covid-19pandemic which has to a great extent withered in intensity since it made impact in late 2019 and early 2020, war between Russia and Ukraine broke out in February after the invasion of the latter by the former. This war has set the world back in its recovery efforts. And even though it is unfolding in Europe the effects are felt far and wide, all the way to the Horn of Africa.
What this chaos translates into is the rise in the cost of living. Over the past few months, fuel prices have skyrocketed. Prices of other commodities such as cooking oil and other essential foodstuffs have as well hit the roof. In Tanzania, a litre of petrol that retailed for around Sh2,500 now costs nearly Sh3,000. In other parts of the country, the price has crossed theSh3,000 per litre threshold. This, according to record books, has never happened before in the country.
We are living through an economic crisis in terms of commodity prices that we have never experienced in our lifetime. Everywhere you turn people are lamenting how expensive life has become. This global crisis has left many governments trying to find ways to address the various hurdles that have befallen citizens who have limited options on life sustenance.
As the world marks May 1, popularly known as Workers’ Day, different employee unions across the country are cognizant of the current situation that many employed individuals are going through. As such, rallying calls are making rounds on how employers in the private and public sectors can address the needs of employees, most of which aim at cushioning the impacts of the high cost of living.
However, it is understandable that the impact of commodity price increases is not only affecting employees but employers as well. So, the situation makes this a rather peculiar scenario to deal with.
Employers’ plight
Employers are also raising concerns over the rising costs of running businesses. For example, in the print media industry, prices of key resources in the production chain have been hiked by over 100 percent. A quick reference is a rise in newspaper print materials that are imported from Russia. A tone of newspaper print that went for around $450 now costs roughly $1,200. This is an unfathomable situation yet in the same lane companies running such businesses need to address their employees’ concerns.
The situation is frightening, to say the least. There is no clear or immediate way out of the current pickle. But, one thing that is clear is that strategies need to be aligned in order to alleviate any more pain and struggle. In the next 13 days, the prices of bus fares are set to rise. We need a plan, now!
