Prof. Balunywa and Mr. Pius Bigirimana awarded Distinguished Order of the Nile - Class One Medal
NAMUTUMBA - The iconic scholar in Management, Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Prof. Juma Waswa Balunywa, who is also the Principal Makerere University Business School has been awarded a medal in recognition for his outstanding service and loyalty to the country. He was distinguished among the 64 who were awarded by the President of Uganda, H. E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Medals are awarded to exceptional personalities who have had a profound footprint in the labour sector. Also, among the awardees is the long-serving Permanent Secretary and seasoned administrator, Mr. Pius Bigirimana.
Namutumba District has hosted this year's Labour Day celebrations with the theme: "Promoting Positive Work Culture and Ethics: A Prerequisite for Increased Investment, Employment Opportunities, and Household Income."
The event being presided over by H.E Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda, has attracted a large representation of workers’, employers’ and government officials as well as religious and cultural leaders, diplomatic corps, private sector players and residents of Namutumba and neighbouring districts.
International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, or the first Monday in May.
The 1st of May, or first Monday in May, is a national public holiday in many countries, in most cases as "International Workers' Day" or a similar name. Some countries celebrate a Labour Day on other dates significant to them, such as the United States and Canada, which celebrate Labour Day on the first Monday of September. In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated 1 May to "Saint Joseph the Worker". Saint Joseph is the patron saint of workers and craftsmen, among others.
Origin
On 21 April 1856, Australian stonemasons in Victoria undertook a mass stoppage as part of the eight-hour workday movement. It became a yearly commemoration, inspiring American workers to have their first stoppage. 1 May was chosen to be International Workers' Day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.
In that year beginning on 1 May, there was a general strike for the eight-hour workday. On 4 May, the police acted to disperse a public assembly in support of the strike when an unidentified person threw a bomb. The police responded by firing on the workers. The event led to the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; sixty police officers were injured, as were one hundred and fifteen civilians. Hundreds of labour leaders and sympathizers were later rounded-up and four were executed by hanging, after a trial that was seen as a miscarriage of justice. The following day on 5 May, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the state militia fired on a crowd of strikers killing seven, including a schoolboy and a man feeding chickens in his yard
