Einkaufswagen
0
Labor Day invites us to rethink work not only as a right, but as a source of personal fulfillment and collective well-being in a changing economy.
For about 130 years, we have celebrated May Day as a symbol of the struggle for workers' rights. Yet, in 2025, we must ask ourselves whether the very meaning of work does not deserve a profound reconsideration. Are we still anchored to the biblical vision of work as a condemnation, or can we finally recognize it as a fundamental expression of the human being and a primary source of personal and social well-being?
Separating the concept of work from productivity and well-being represents a fundamental error of our time. True human work has never been mere productive toil, but a transformative activity that simultaneously generates economic value and existential well-being. When this connection is broken, work loses its horizon of meaning.
The fashion industry, with its global value of 2.4 trillion dollars and approximately 50 million employees, exemplifies this fracture: productivity has become an end in itself, disconnected from the well-being of those who produce and those who consume. “Fast fashion” imposes frenetic production cycles that create discomfort both in underpaid workers and in consumers trapped in a cycle of dissatisfaction and compulsive purchasing.
Yet, work is intrinsically human - we are the only species that consciously transforms the surrounding environment not only to survive, but to create meaning. When this natural activity is oriented towards well-being, it becomes a source of personal and collective fulfillment. The challenge is to recover this dimension by integrating productivity and well-being in a new work paradigm.
Technology and dehumanization: beyond the false dichotomy
For millions of people in the fashion industry, working means existing in conditions that undermine every form of well-being. "Industriall Global Union" reveals that over 90% of workers in this sector cannot negotiate wages and conditions. 80% are women between 18 and 24, subjected to abuse and minimum wages.
Technology is radically transforming the landscape, with potential double effects. On the one hand, it risks intensifying control and production pressure; on the other, it could free human work from its most alienating components, directing it towards activities that generate authentic well-being: creativity, relationships, innovation, care.
It is therefore not technology in itself that determines the future of work, but the vision that directs it: productivity as an end in itself or productivity aimed at well-being? Artificial intelligence, automation and digitalization can be tools of liberation only if guided by a horizon of meaning that places human and planetary well-being at the center.
Towards a new social pact for work
May Day 2025 must become an opportunity to reaffirm the authentic value of work: not divine condemnation but an expression of dignity and creativity. On this day, we celebrate the possibility of a different kind of work, one that respects the uniqueness of the person and their desire to contribute significantly to the world.
Just as the slow food revolution has been effective in changing our relationship with food, the transformation of the world of work will also require collective effort. But it is a necessary and possible revolution, to give work back its most authentic meaning: not what we do to survive, but the activity through which we fulfill ourselves and build together a shared and lasting well-being