Labor Day is celebrated in Cameroon every year on 1 May. The moment is often considered solemn by the great parade which the Ministry of Labor and Social Security usually organizes on Boulevard do 20 Mai in Yaounde.

In every city in the country, the celebration is punctuated by parades that each head of the administrative unit supervises in his area of ​​competence. The workers are thus given an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and above all to convey their demands to the public authorities.

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Among other things, the atmosphere is often marked by the wearing of mannequins of companies, at exhibitions and at celebrations in places of celebration. Unfortunately these festivities will not be known this year 2022. Workers will satisfy themselves with simple announcements in their companies. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security justifies this position by the still perceptible spread of the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, the terrible pandemic that is still rocking the planet.

The famous speech of workers’ rights defenders will not take place in front of members of the government, yet Cameroonian activists are eager to speak in a way that the entire republic can hear. They want to tell the government how their rights are ignored in some public, parastatal and private companies.

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Rights that can be summed up in a few points: almost non-existent wages, non-respecting contractual clauses, non-affiliation with the National Social Security Fund and improved working conditions. A universe that suggests strong tensions between workers and those responsible for protecting their rights, especially trade unionists. The activists accused him of not being impartial in the discharge of his duties. Many are said to be corrupt.