It is probably quite fitting to write this article today - Labour Day in Trinidad & Tobago. Nobody who has a modicum of justice flowing through his veins or understands and appreciates history and the significance of this date can grudge this holiday.
Indeed, I would argue that it is right and mete and absolutely necessary that we celebrate this holiday as well as others. But my argument is a simple one: except for those days that can't be moved (e.g., Independence, Christmas. Eid, Divali, etc.) for reasons that ought to be obvious, we have a bunch of other holidays, like this one, that we can celebrate by making it fall on a particular Monday in a particular month. For example, why don't we celebrate Indian Arrival Day on the last Monday in May? And we can do so on other appropriate Mondays, (e.g. we can have Emancipation Day on the first Monday in August? Or Republic Day on the last Monday in September?)
I was thinking about this because everybody I know (except those born on an actual public holiday) has had a birthday fall on a weekday but had the celebration on a weekend. The birthday party is still special but everyone can enjoy the party especially because they don't have to go to work the next day.
So? Why can't our country do the same as we all have done at one time or another? Research has shown time and again that the country's productivity falls drastically when a public holiday falls on, say, a Tuesday or a Thursday - greater than when it falls on a Monday or a Friday. People tend to make it a long weekend if this happens, with the resulting drop in productivity.
Let me be clear: I am NOT arguing for the abolition of ANY holidays. The abolition of any particular holiday (religious or otherwise) would be a whole other argument. I am simply arguing for a rethink or streamlining of certain non-religious holidays in the interest of making T&T (admittedly only a little) more efficient.
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