ramblings on may day

Today, May 1st - Labour day/May Day/International Worker’s Day , is not a holiday for our office ( a law firm).
So whats the big deal?
Personally speaking, it does not make a difference to me.

From another angle, my boss says we (lawyers) are not labourers but professionals! Hence even the concept and the holiday is not applicable to us.

How are labourers different from professionals? At the end of the day, individuals work – whether for a living or for a pastime or whatever other reason- and they invariably end up doing what gives them the immediate opportunity to work and make a decent amount of money to take care of themselves and their family and extended needs.
The ‘being good at one’s job” is again due to lot of factors like attitude, adequate training, supervision, continuous learning and improvement. So, to me, there is no big difference between say, a house maid, road sweeper, a construction worker, tailor, lawyer, banker, doctor et al. (I am overlooking the skill vs. unskilled part but that would mean entering another domain altogether). Why then can’t we view labourers also as professionals ?

Its like the difference between socialism and capitalism. I dont recollect who said it but I have heard it from my dad :
In capitalism, man exploits man. And in Socialism, its the other way round!
The quote has a Shaw-esque sound to it and could be G.B.Shaw, for all you know. But a google search mentioned JK Galbraith and also that it is a Polish proverb!