PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday urged Jamaicans to put back the true meaning into Labour Day by rekindling the spirit of community volunteerism.

“Let us join hands and heart and return Labour Day to what it was in former years,” the prime minister told yesterday’s launch of National Labour Day 2006 at Jamaica House in Kingston.

“Jamaica’s social fabric was built on volunteerism. when communities, church groups, and social clubs were all fully engaged in nation building, safe in the knowledge that we all have a stake in this country,” the prime minister said.

“I am convinced that our return to true greatness and prosperity lies in rekindling the spirit of volunteerism,” she added.

National Labour Day 2006 is being celebrated under the theme “Preserving Jamaica’s beauty, our duty”. The national project will be the beautification of the Falmouth Town Centre in the parish of Trelawny.

“Every single Jamaican has a responsibility to preserve our God-given natural heritage. Surely, Jamaica’s beauty is our duty,” Simpson Miller said.

Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba also appealed to Jamaicans to put back work into Labour Day by helping to beautify public spaces in every community. “This is the very essence of Labour Day, and my hope and prayer is that we will refocus individually, reflect and recapture who we truly are as Jamaicans,” Assamba said.

This year’s Labour Day concert will be staged in the parish of Trelawny at the historic Water Square in the parish capital, Falmouth, while a thanksgiving service will be held on Sunday, May 21, at the Higholborn Street Church of God in downtown Kingston.

The National Labour Day observance seeks to engender a spirit of volunteerism among Jamaicans, and also to celebrate the working class movement, which began in 1938.

Labour Day evolved from what was then Empire Day, celebrated on May 24 each year. But in 1961 the Jamaican Parliament decided to abolish Empire Day, and declared that the anniversary of the working class movement be celebrated instead on May 23.

In 1972, then Prime Minister Michael Manley gave this national holiday a new dimension by issuing an appeal to all Jamaicans to put some meaning into Labour Day, by making it a day of voluntary labour. Since then, at each observance, thousands of Jamaicans turn out to give support in labour to a particular theme.

However, throughout the years Labour Day has lost its appeal, especially among the young.