May Day

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May Day

Post by blindpig » Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:04 pm

May Day 2018: With Internationalism and Solidarity!!
17 Apr 20181 MAY, MAY DAY
The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in the name of its more than 92 million affiliates all over the world salutes, on the occasion of this great day, all the workers who live, work and struggle in every corner of the world. May Day was, is and will be a beacon for the struggles of yesterday and tomorrow despite our enemies’ efforts. May Day has to be a message of resistance against bourgeoisie, imperialists and their international alliances’ policies.

At the same time, the workers’ blood which was shed in Chicago on 1886 reminds us of our duty today; it reminds us that nothing is given for free; every right or freedom that was conquered by our class has been won through sacrifices, conflicts and organized struggles.

Today, whilst technology and scientific progress have contributed to the increase of the produced social wealth, our class’ living conditions have been deteriorating. In every capitalist country, the bosses attack our class achievements: they are sweeping through salaries, pensions and social security; they are privatizing everything, they don’t hesitate to attack even the sacred right to strike! Strike is the most powerful weapon we have in our hands and we are not going to allow anyone to limit, confine or convert it to a dead letter!

At the same time, they are intensively preparing and conducting regional wars.They pave the way for new massacres that will maximize their profits, for new imperialist interventions that will destroy nations, spill peoples’ blood and deprive them of their natural resources. The ongoing imperialist intervention in Libya and Syria, the growing aggression against Venezuela, the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the massacre of Saudi Arabia against Yemen, the tension on the Korean peninsula, they are all indications that multinationals have smelled new profitability areas; and every time this goes through the dead bodies of workers.

Under the current conditions of the deep economic crisis of capitalism and intense competition among various imperialist centers to control new markets, our most powerful weapons are INTERNATIONALISM and SOLIDARITY. No worker must feel alone. All together, we must move on with Solidarity and Internationalism, building the Unity of the working class to give practical effect to Karl Marx’s motto “proletarians of all countries unite”.

In this context, and on this anniversary, the WFTU expresses its solidarity with our persecuted brothers, the immigrants and refugees, who either because of imperialists’ bullets or because of poverty and misery generated by this system, are forced to leave their homeland. The WFTU will continue to be on their side, fighting for a world without exploitation and refugees. Immigrants must become an integral part of unions, unite with local workers and fight together for wages, rights, against wars and interventions.

We join our voice with the heroic Palestinian people in order to gain their own independent and democratic homeland.

At the same time, we stand by the side of the struggling female worker, the one who suffers from double exploitation. The WFTU female members, at the recent World Women’s Congress in Panama, declared loud and clear that they want equal rights to work, society and life. The WFTU also fights and will continue to fight for this equality. It’s the same orientation that we follow for the the youngsters, as the new generation of workers have the task to honor the best May Day struggle traditions.

This year, the WFTU, by giving its hand to anyone who has stood up, has announced the year of trade union education and training. Our purpose is that the new shifts of workers be insubordinate, militant, enemies of class compromise and collaboration. We honor the year of trade union training and we call on every union to contribute to the militant truth, revealing the true meaning of May Day and the sacrifices the working class made for it. By rescuing the past, the very memory of our movement, we leave a legacy for tomorrow’s struggles and we also have a tool for the future. It is a duty to know the history of our movement.

The WFTU takes steps forward, strengthens and grows: and that’s what frightens our opponents. There is no other way than to make it present everywhere, in every corner of the world, so that there is no longer a hungry, dismissed, hunted or persecuted worker. The WFTU must be a “trench” of struggle for a future without exploitation of man by man. This is how the vision of the first Secretary General of the WFTU, Luis Saillant, envisioned in 1945 will be brought to life: “The WFTU for the workers of the whole world!”

LONG LIVE MAY DAY!

http://www.wftucentral.org/may-day-2018 ... olidarity/

There should be a big demonstration in Chicago, to remind us who we are.
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Re: May Day 2018

Post by blindpig » Mon Apr 30, 2018 2:05 pm

#1Mayo: There is no force more powerful than unity
"… Given its power, given its triumph since January 1, May Day has become a powerful factor, decisive in the political life of the country, because, with the general strike called with the Rebel Army, it was the working class that delivered the final blow to those plans to snatch the people's victory at the last moment, as they had done on other occasions ..."

Author: Fidel Castro Ruz | internet@granma.cu

april 30, 2018 08:04:59

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Photo: Jose M. Correa

On November 18, 1959, Fidel stated "… Given its power, given its triumph since January 1, May Day has become a powerful factor, decisive in the political life of the country, because, with the general strike called with the Rebel Army, it was the working class that delivered the final blow to plans to snatch the people's victory at the last moment, as they had done on other occasions ..."

And on April 30, 2009, "We hope that every May Day, thousands of men and women from all corners of the planet share International Workers day with us… Not in vain, long before January 1, 1959, we proclaimed that our Revolution would be a Revolution of the humble, by the humble, and for the humble. The successes of our homeland in the spheres of education, health, science, culture, and others, and especially in the unity of the people, are being demonstrated, despite the ruthless blockade."

Fidel Castro

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2018-04-30/1ma ... than-unity
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Re: May Day 2018

Post by blindpig » Tue May 01, 2018 11:44 am

Picture post

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May Day in Viena, 1950

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Happy International May Day from the Union of Metalworkers! #1918LIVE

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Alexei Stefanov and his wife Lyudmila Stefanova, also a decorated war veteran, from Moscow, Russia. Stefanov took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. After participating in the Victory Day Parade he went to China to help drive out the Japanese.

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We hope that every first of may thousands of men and women from all corners of the world share with us the International Workers ' Day. #1Mayo #RevoluciónEsUnidad https://bit.ly/2r7Eyxu #ttps://t.co/KKoWEZlce7

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Join us for #MayDayPhilly at City Hall! We have events lined up from 10am-5pm so rally your family, your neighbors, your friends, and your fellow workers and come on out! It's #MayDayStrike! #WearRedForWorkers

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#MayDay2018 where? Union Square! Join the #WorkersWorldParty revolutionary contingent in New York today. Union Sq North starting 12 noon, March starting at 5 @workersworld #communism #socialism #revolution #MarxAt200

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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcHJwvZWAAAO-uy.jpg

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May Day in Beirut! (Get me to a doctor!)

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#1Mayo #Cuba Almost all workers, including small private business employees, are unionized and protected under collective agreements

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Comrade Manik Sarkar addressed a gathering in Agartala on occasion of #Mayday. He gave a call for resistance against anti labor anti people policies of the BJP govt.

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Langston Hughes - A Chant for May Day (1938) #MayDay2018

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May Day, NYC, 1935
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Re: May Day 2018

Post by blindpig » Tue May 01, 2018 1:19 pm

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Celebration on occasion of Workers’ Day in Damascus

1 May، 2018

Damascus, SANA – Under the patronage of President Bashar al-Assad, the General Federation of Trade Unions on Tuesday organized a central celebration on occasion of International Workers’ Day.

The event was held at the headquarters of the United Trade and Industrial Company (Al-Khumasiya) in Damascus.

Chairman of the General Federation Jamal al-Qaderi said that this year, the International Workers’ Day is celebrated as the Syrian Arab Army is achieving major victories against terrorism, making this occasion a celebration of the victory of values and principles.

He said that this event also commemorates the workers who were martyred.

Al-Qaderi said that the working class is a true partner in the victory against terrorism, as it supported the army and provided what the Syrian people needed to remain steadfast in the most difficult conditions.

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https://sana.sy/en/?p=136071
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Re: May Day

Post by blindpig » Mon May 01, 2023 2:39 pm

Workers should have the power!
Liberation StaffMay 1, 2023 20

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Download this statement as a flyer here https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-conte ... tional.pdf.

As we mark May Day — International Workers’ Day — one thing is clear: life under this system keeps getting harder and harder for working people. The cost of basic necessities has skyrocketed. A recession is on its way as the Federal Reserve intentionally tries to create mass unemployment. Millions of people are being kicked off of Medicaid, and more cuts to other essential programs could be on the way because of the phony “debt ceiling” crisis.

The Biden administration is sitting on its hands and letting the working class suffer. It has not moved to freeze prices or provide any form of relief from the economic turmoil. When rail workers stood up for dignity, Biden trampled on their right to strike. The administration has abandoned their plans to pass any kind of progressive reform, but they have somehow found an endless supply of money to pay for war in Ukraine.

The Republicans’ ultra pro-corporate program will make the situation even worse. Because they have no real solutions, they promote racism, bigotry against LGBTQ people, and other schemes to divide workers.

No one in the political establishment can be depended on to defend our interests. This is the inevitable consequence of a system — capitalism — where millionaires and billionaires make all the most important decision.

May Day is about standing up and saying that workers should have the power! Instead of a tiny handful of bankers and corporate executives, the people should run the economy and the government so we can meet the needs of the people and the planet.

https://www.liberationnews.org/workers- ... rationnews

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Latin America Celebrates International Workers' Day

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A Bolivian poster in honor of International Workers' Day. | Photo: Twitter/ @MindeGobierno

Published 1 May 2023 (1 hours 51 minutes ago)

In countries like Argentina and Ecuador, mobilizations are expected against the interference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in domestic economic policies.

On May 1, Latin American workers will mobilize to defend their rights and commemorate International Workers' Day.

In Argentina, social and trade union organizations will gather in Buenos Aires City to defend workers' rights and reject the interference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in domestic economic policies.

Groups such as the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy, the Evita Movement, the Combative Class Current (CCC), the Milagro Sala Front, Standing Neighborhoods, and the Great Homeland Front will meet on Mayo Avenue from where they will march to the headquarters of the Argentine government, the Pink House.

In Brazil, the Worker's Central Union (CUT) and other organizations will hold events in the main cities of the country to express their support for President Lula da Silva, who announced an increase in the minimum wage and will send a bill to Congress so that this remuneration is readjusted according to the annual inflation rate.

In Bolivia, President Luis Arce will lead the La Paz city's Great March convened by the Bolivian Workers' Central (COB) to commemorate International Workers' Day. He is expected to make some pro-working class announcements.


In Chile, the Workers' Unitary Central (CUT) and other social organizations called on citizens to gather at the CUT headquarters to march towards the Gabriela Mistral Center, where they will hold a massive rally in Santiago city.

Besides rejecting job insecurity, Chileans demand a tax reform to improve the distribution of wealth, an increase in the amount of pensions for retirees, more jobs for young people, and the implementation of Convention 190 against workplace violence and harassment.

In Ecuador, the Unitary Front of Workers (FUT) and dozens of social organizations will carry out the traditional march for Labor Day and demand the resignation of Guillermo Lasso, a right-wing president who has failed to solve the main problems that afflict the people.

In Venezuela, the United Socialist Party (PSUV), labor unions, and social organizations called on citizens to meet in various locations in Caracas starting at 10:00 a.m. local time to march in support of President Nicolas Maduro.

In Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay, union and social organizations will also carry out acts to commemorate International Workers' Day.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Lat ... -0006.html

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May Day 2023: Prepare for a long, hot summer of struggle
May 1, 2023 Melinda Butterfield

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Akron, Ohio, march demands justice for Jayland Walker, April 15.

It’s May Day – International Workers’ Day – and the United States is a tinderbox of combustible material waiting for a spark. Poor and working people who gather in cities and towns across the country on May 1 should prepare for a long, hot summer of struggle against the capitalist regime.

In a single day, April 17, grand juries in Ohio and Virginia let off killer cops who murdered Black men: Jayland Walker and Timothy McCree Johnson.

In 2022, U.S. police killed at least 1,176 people – nearly 100 per month – the largest number ever recorded. But 2023 is on track to bust that gruesome record. The rate of fatal police shootings of Black people far outstrips any other group.

Just days before, on April 14, a 16-year-old Black honor student, Ralph Yarl, was shot by a white racist in Kansas City, Missouri, for the “crime” of ringing his doorbell. Yarl had mistaken the bigot’s street address for the location where he was supposed to pick up his younger siblings.

The critically wounded youth ran to neighboring houses seeking help – only to be ignored. Then, finally, a neighborhood resident saw Yarl lying in a pool of blood in a driveway and got help. Fortunately, he survived.

On April 13, in Brooklyn, New York’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood, police shot and killed an elderly Black man after they broke into his building and pounded on doors “searching for a robbery suspect.” The NYPD claims the man was holding a pistol. He didn’t fire at the cops, but Caesar Robinson “was shot numerous times” before he died.

The outrages don’t stop there. On April 19, the Dekalb County Medical Examiner released its official autopsy report on Atlanta, Georgia, forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, who was shot and killed by Georgia State Troopers during a brutal raid on “Cop City” protesters in January.

The cops claimed Tortuguita shot first. The Medical Examiner’s report confirmed what everyone knew – the cops lied. There was no gunpowder residue on the hands of the Latinx-Indigenous nonbinary activist. Their hands were raised when their body was riddled with 57 police bullets.

The Biden administration and Senate’s Democratic Party majority have joined the Republican House majority and right-wing state and local governments to fork over additional billions of funding to police agencies.

Remember how Biden rode to victory over bigot Donald Trump on the coattails of the massive Black Lives Matter movement following the police murder of George Floyd in 2020? Since taking office, Biden has only done the bidding of the bosses frightened by the Black Lives uprising.

War at home, war abroad

The police war on Black and Brown people at home is an extension of U.S. wars for empire abroad. In the last year, Biden and Congress have spent well over $100 billion funding the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia and the people of Donbass.

As this is being written on April 28, a Ukrainian strike on the city of Donetsk has killed at least seven people and wounded 19 in a busy shopping area – the latest in hundreds of similar war crimes committed against civilians in the Donbass region since the U.S.-backed coup in Kiev in 2014.

Ukraine’s war on civilians had already claimed more than 14,000 lives before the escalation of the conflict in February 2022. It’s unclear how many more have died since Russia was forced to intervene to protect the population of Donbass and eastern Ukraine last year, but it’s certainly in the tens of thousands on both sides, if not more.

As the conflict drags on, bringing direct U.S. military conflict with Russia ever closer, Washington is also gearing up for war with the People’s Republic of China. In fact, this is the war favored by the Republican far right and the most overtly pro-fascist factions of the U.S. ruling class. But there is bipartisan agreement on the dangerous buildup in the Pacific and Asia.

From Cuba and Venezuela to Iran and Zimbabwe, people continue to suffer the effects of U.S. sanctions and blockades – another form of warfare. U.S. wars, both proxy and open, continue to kill from the Horn of Africa and Syria to Palestine and Yemen.

For workers here, the costs of U.S. wars have been devastating – not only robbing funds from desperately-needed social services to pay Pentagon contractors and U.S. proxy regimes but providing the rationale of out-of-control price-gouging by capitalist profiteers.

The cost of fuel, food, rent, utilities, and health care continue to rise as wages stagnate, and the Democrat/Republican axis removes all of the meager protections put in place during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the unaddressed climate crisis devastates swaths of the country, upending lives with startling regularity.

The increasingly desperate conditions have inspired powerful strikes coast-to-coast. The bosses have taken note of the upturn in labor organizing and strike activity – led by young workers – and are positioning their politicians to crack down, even passing measures to roll back laws against child labor from Alabama to Iowa, following in the wake of Biden’s attack on railroad workers.

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Hundreds march in solidarity with censured trans Rep. Zooey Zephyr in Missoula, Montana, April 28.

Trans lives, abortion rights under attack

The first big battles of summer 2023 may come during June – LGBTQ2S Pride Month.

Florida, Tennessee, and other states have passed or will pass broad measures to crack down on Pride celebrations. In Florida, some corporate-sponsored Pride events have already been called off before the measure takes effect for fear of legal liability.

We face the possibility of mass arrests at Pride events, especially targeting trans people and drag artists. A barrage of more than 500 state bills in nearly every U.S. state since the start of this year is attempting to drive trans people out of public life – cutting off life-saving gender-affirming health care for both youths and adults; banning people from using restrooms or playing on sports teams corresponding to their gender; and even making it illegal to be trans in public.

Across the country, astroturfed “parents groups” are working with right-wing politicians to ban books that tell the truth about queer lives, Black history, and any aspect of U.S. history. Libraries are being defunded, and teachers silenced. Even elected officials who dare to challenge the far right from Montana to Tennessee are being targeted with illegal sanctions that disenfranchise the people who voted for them.

Anti-trans legislation has been accompanied by growing threats and violence on social media and in the streets. Drag story hours and queer events of all kinds are targeted by far-right bigots from the Proud Boys to TERFS and Christian nationalists, often working side-by-side. In response, queer communities and allies from coast-to-coast have mobilized to push back the fascists.

Increasingly, the cry is heard: Pride is a protest! Stonewall was a riot! Pride 2023 is guaranteed to swell the movement of recent years that has demanded a return to the spirit of the Stonewall Rebellion and for cops out of Pride.

After robbing women and other people who can become pregnant of their right to abortion last year, allowing many states to ban the essential medical procedure, the U.S. Supreme Court may soon ban access to the abortion pill nationally.

Make no mistake: the situation is dangerous. Members of oppressed communities are dying. Millions of workers are living on the edge of disaster.

But the workers and oppressed, the masses of the people, have not yet been heard from. The working class has the power to turn the situation around – not only to halt the fascist advance but to reverse the setbacks and expand people’s rights. It is the job of revolutionary communists and socialists to seize every opportunity to aid the masses in exercising their power.

Yes, it will be a long, hot summer – and not just because of capitalist-fueled climate change. The bosses and their political stooges are asking for it. Let’s give them hell.

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2023/ ... -struggle/

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May Day: World’s workers rally, France sees pension anger
By ANGELA CHARLTON and HYUNG-JIN KIM
22 minutes ago

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A worker holds up a smoke stick during a May Day rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, May 1, 2023. Workers and activists across Asia are marking May Day with protests calling for higher salaries and better working conditions, among other demands. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

PARIS (AP) — People squeezed by inflation and demanding economic justice took to the streets across Asia and Europe to mark May Day on Monday, in a global outpouring of worker discontent not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the world into lockdowns.

French police charged at radical protesters smashing bank windows as unions pushed the president to scrap a higher retirement age. South Koreans pleaded for higher wages. Spanish lawyers demanded the right to take days off. Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon marched in a country plunged in economic crisis.

While May Day is marked around the world on May 1 as a celebration of labor rights, this year’s rallies tapped into broader frustrations. Climate activists spraypainted a Louis Vuitton museum in Paris, and protesters in Germany demonstrated against violence targeting women and LGBTQ+ people.

Celebrations were forced indoors in Pakistan and tinged with political tensions in Turkey, as both countries face high-stakes elections. Russia’s war in Ukraine overshadowed scaled-back events in Moscow, where Communist-led May Day celebrations were once massive affairs.


Across Asia, this year’s May Day events unleashed pent-up frustration after three years of COVID-19 restrictions. This year’s events had bigger turnouts than in previous years in Asian cities, as activists in many countries argued governments should do more to improve workers’ lives.

Across France, thousands marched in what unions hope are the country’s biggest May Day demonstrations in years, mobilized against President Emmanuel Macron’s recent move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Organizers see the pension reform as a threat to hard-fought worker rights, while Macron argues it’s economically necessary as the population ages.

While marchers were largely peaceful, groups of extremist protesters shattered windows of stores and banks in Paris, drawing tear gas from rows of riot police. One was filmed dismantling a surveillance camera, and French police deployed drones exceptionally to film unrest, a move that has raised concerns among privacy defenders and activist groups. Paris police detained 30 people, and clashes were reported in Lyon and Nantes.



French union members were joined by labor activists from other countries, environmental activists and other groups fighting for economic justice, or just expressing anger at Macron and what is seen as his out-of-touch, pro-business leadership. Activists opposed to the 2024 Paris Olympics and their impact on society and the environment also demonstrated.

In Turkey, police prevented a group of demonstrators from reaching Istanbul’s main square, Taksim, and detained around a dozen protesters, the independent television station Sozcu reported. Journalists trying to film demonstrators being forcibly moved into police vans were also pushed back or detained.

The square has symbolic importance for Turkey’s trade unions after unknown gunmen opened fire on people celebrating May Day at Taksim in 1977, causing a stampede that killed dozens. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has declared Taksim off-limits to demonstrations, though small groups were allowed to enter Taksim to lay wreaths at a monument there.


In Pakistan, authorities banned rallies in some cities because of a tense security situation or political atmosphere. In Peshawar, in the country’s restive northwest, labor organizations and trade unions held indoor events to demand better workers’ rights amid high inflation.

Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties and trade unions held workers’ day rallies protesting austerity measures and economic reforms linked to a bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The protesters demanded the government halt moves to privatize state-owned and semi-government businesses. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in history and has suspended repaying its foreign debt.

More than 70 marches were held across Spain, led by the country’s powerful unions, who warned of “social conflict” if low salaries compared to the EU average don’t rise in line with inflation. They also praised incentives to move Spain to a four-day working week.


Blue-collar workers led the protests, but white-collar professionals were also making demands in a country that stills bears the scars of previous recessions.

The Illustrious College of Lawyers of Madrid urged reforms of historic laws that require them to be on call 365 days of the year, regardless of the death of family members or medical emergencies. In the last few years, lawyers have tweeted images of themselves working from hospital beds on IV drips to illustrate the problem.

In South Korea, tens of thousands of people attended various rallies in its biggest May Day gatherings since the pandemic began in early 2020.

“The price of everything has increased except for our wages. Increase our minimum wages!” an activist at a Seoul rally shouted at the podium. “Reduce our working hours!”

In Tokyo, thousands of labor union members, opposition lawmakers and academics demanded wage increases to offset the impact of rising costs as they recover from damage from the pandemic. They criticized Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to double the defense budget, and said the money should be spent on welfare, social security and improving people’s daily lives.


In Indonesia, demonstrators demanded the government repeal a job creation law they argue would benefit business at the expense of workers and the environment.

“Job Creation Law must be repealed,” protester Sri Ajeng said. “It’s only oriented to benefit employers, not workers.”

In Taiwan, thousands of workers protested what they call the inadequacies of the self-ruled island’s labor policies, putting pressure on the ruling party before the 2024 presidential election.

Protests in Germany kicked off with a “Take Back the Night” rally organized by feminist and queer groups on the eve of May Day to protest against violence directed at women and LGBTQ+ people. Several thousand people took part in the march, which was largely peaceful despite occasional clashes between participants and police. Numerous further rallies by labor unions and leftist groups are planned in Germany on Monday.

Italy’s far-right premier, Giorgia Meloni, made a point of working on Monday — as her Cabinet passed measures on Labor Day that it contends demonstrates concern for workers. But opposition lawmakers and union leaders said the measures do nothing to increase salaries or to combat the widespread practice of hiring workers on temporary contracts. Many young people say they can’t contemplate starting families or even move out of their parents’ homes because they can only get temporary contracts.

Elsewhere, some communities held May Day festivals that harkened back to pagan ceremonies celebrating spring.

In war-ravaged Ukraine, May Day is associated with Soviet-era celebrations when the country was ruled from Moscow — an era that many want forgotten.

“It is good that we don’t celebrate this holiday like it was done during the Bolshevik times. It was something truly awful,” said Anatolii Borsiuk, a 77-year-old in Kyiv.

Alla Liapkina described the flowers and balloons of Soviet May Day gatherings, but said it’s time to move on.

“We live in a new era, and we need to develop in this direction,″ she said. ’’We don’t need to go back to such a past.”

___

Hyung-Jin Kim reported from Seoul. Mari Yamaguchi and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo; Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia; Kanis Leung in Hong Kong; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Riazat Butt in Islamabad; Abby Sewell in Beirut; Jennifer O’Mahoney in Madrid; Nicolae Dumitrache in Kyiv; Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Frances D’Emilio in Rome; Alex Turnbull and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris, contributed to this report.

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https://apnews.com/article/may-day-cele ... f9c9e97d18
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Re: May Day

Post by blindpig » Tue May 02, 2023 1:55 pm

On May Day, NUMSA calls for a national economic agenda for the working class

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has called for ending neoliberal policies and is pushing for greater state intervention in the economy, the nationalization of key sectors, and an expansionary budget to alleviate the economic crisis in the country

May 01, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch

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(Photo: IndustriALL Global Union)

As May Day marks the commemoration of historic labor struggles across the world, it also serves as a day for trade unions and organizations to mobilize to address the most pressing socio-economic problems confronting the working class.

For the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), this International Workers’ Day is being marked “against the backdrop of increasing poverty, inequality, and unemployment of the masses” in South Africa.

While the country has officially marked 29 years of freedom under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), NUMSA has condemned the government for “entrenching the power of the capitalist elite, instead of dismantling the colonial and apartheid structure of the economy.”

In a statement released on May 1, the union outlined two key challenges facing the country— a) the “deep global structural crisis of capitalism” which began in 2008, and b) the impact of neoliberal policies which oversee the imposition of “structural adjustment programs with the Reserve Banks, and the South African Reserve Bank dictating austerity measures.”

NUMSA also rejected the privatization of State Owned Entities (SOEs) at the behest of banks and international financial institutions, particularly the destruction of state energy utility company Eskom even as the country continues to face a debilitating energy crisis.

While Eskom’s Primary Energy Costs have grown significantly, from R83 billion (US$ 4.5 billion) in 2016-2017 to R132 billion (US$7.2 billion) 2021-2022, at least partly due to energy procurement from private producers, the state has been “taking away increases and benefits from workers at Eskom, whose wages and benefits have cost Eskom not more than 33 billion (US$1.7 billion)” within the same time period.

NUMSA has been organizing workers at Eskom to fight back against the rollback of their rights and has joined forces with other trade unions and political and civil society groups to demand state action to address the energy crisis and its impact on South Africa’s public sector and economy.

In its statement on Monday, the union also stressed the need for an expansionary budget with a stimulus package focusing on investing in infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. Crucially, NUMSA also called for the nationalization of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).

“White monopoly capital and the unregulated, untransformed banking are benefiting from government guarantees that are given to them without any procurement process. They continue to drive high interest rates with the Reserve Bank that has for decades pursued high interest rates as an economic weapon, which is undermining manufacturing and industrialization,” the union’s statement read.

SARB announced a 50-basis point interest rate hike at the end of March—the ninth consecutive increase since November 2021—making the cost of borrowing the highest in over a decade, at a time when it should “be releasing liquidity to the economy so that the state can drive manufacturing and industrialization,” NUMSA said.

The union emphasized the need for the state to move away from austerity measures and to intervene in the economy.

While NUMSA has made key advances for workers in the last year—both in the workplace and in the courts—it stressed that “the gains we have made as workers are not enough to transform our society permanently, and make-up for the suffering caused by apartheid.”

Expressing solidarity with the struggles of the shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, NUMSA added, “If we want genuine freedom for the masses, we have to drive an agenda for the benefit of the working class. That includes amongst others, the nationalization of land and minerals for the benefit of the majority.”

“The working class will have to unite, and fight once more, for the work of the liberation movement to be completed.”

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/05/01/ ... ing-class/

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President Maduro Greets Workers at May Day March, Announces Salary Increase
MAY 1, 2023

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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores, during the May Day March held in Caracas on Monday, May 1, 2023. Photo: Presidential Press.

Caracas, May 1, 2023 (OrinocoTribune.com)—During his speech to greet workers gathering in Caracas for the May Day march, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denounced the White House’s decision to transfer CITGO’s ownership to far-right opposition elements of the Unitary Platform. The Venezuelan president also announced the increase of the food bonus to $40 and the economic warfare bonus to $20, leaving the monthly bonuses at $60 paid in bolívars disregarding exchange rate fluctuations (indexation). This was part of a series of nine measures for the workers announced by President Maduro.

On Monday, May 1, President Maduro specified that the indexation of both bonuses will prevent their depreciation due to the fluctuation of the bolívar in the face of the dollar in the exchange rate market and the attacks against the national currency aimed at bringing down workers’ income.

“It is an income resistance plan that should lead us, sooner rather than later, to the recovery of wages,” he explained. “Now we have to resist, and we are going to apply the indexation to the food bonus [cestaticket] and the warfare bonus in addition to the wage workers receive.”

The economic warfare bonus is a provision paid monthly to public workers and pensioners via the Patria system, beginning in January 2023, within the context of the illegal sanctions against Venezuela that have severely limited workers’ income and, therefore, public employees’ salaries. The bonus is paid in bolívars. In January, February and March, the equivalent of $30 was paid and, in April, $44, as reported by Alba Ciudad.

The food bonus, cestaticket, was increased to $40 on May 1 after being frozen last year at 45 bolívars, currently equivalent to $1.80.

President Maduro did not announce an increase in the monthly minimum wage expected by millions of workers in the country, remaining at Bs. 130, or approximately $5.2. Changes to pensioners’ payments were also not reported, who have received a warfare bonus of $20 a month in bolívars since January.

Corruption and imperialist aggression
Maduro questioned the illegal US and European sanctions and their dramatic effects on Venezuelans’ quality of life, along with the recent move to rob the Venezuelan people of CITGO ownership and hand it to a group of far-right political parties. He also condemned corruption that has affected the Venezuelan government’s finances.

Last week, the Venezuelan parliament approved the Asset Forfeiture Law. It was then signed into law by President Maduro on Friday and published in the Official Gazette on Monday, making it part of Venezuela’s legal toolbox against corruption, terrorism and narco-trafficking. The goal of the law is to allow the state to access seized assets resulting from these crimes in order to use them in social programs to benefit the majority of Venezuelans.

https://orinocotribune.com/president-ma ... -increase/

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War-Induced Inflation and PM Meloni Irritate Italian Workers

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The sign reads, "Out of the war. Against the NATO and the Meloni government," May 1, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @LuluMuchacha

Published 1 May 2023 (19 hours 28 minutes ago)

"May Day is our's day of struggle. No Council of Ministers can use it as a catwalk!," an Italian teacher stressed.


International Workers' Day on Monday was marked in Italy by the discontent of citizens against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the loss of purchasing power caused by the economic consequences of the Ukrainian war.

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The Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL), Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (CISL) and the Italian Union of Labor (UIL) held their unitary demonstration in Potenza.

From this city in the Basilicata region,the three largest unions warned that the Meloni administration is not implementing policies in "the direction requested by the workers."

May Day is an especially revered day in Italy, a country that celebrates the 75th anniversary of its establishment as a "democratic republic founded on labor."

This happened after the end of WW2 and the defeat of fascism, an event that would have been impossible without the support of the resistance fueled by leftist workers and activists.


The tweet reads, "Meloni's May Day fiction that reduces the Ministers of the Republic to extra actors. Propaganda to the nth degree to sponsor a shameful labor decree. Increasingly precarious contracts and a reduction of two coins in taxes for the poor."

On Monday, however, Meloni decided to ignore the holiday and convened a Council of Ministers, which approved a decree modifying the tax burden until the end of the year.

Among other things, the new rule reduces the tax wedge, that is, the difference between the salary paid by an employer and the income received by the worker. The result of this is a net salary increase of about 100 euros for workers earning up to 35,000 euros per year.

"The tax wedge cut will give an extra 100 euros in payroll at a time when inflation is rampant. I don't understand who is arguing even about this," Meloni said last week.

However, precisely because of the confluence of high levels of inflation and a derisory net increase, the Italian workers consider that this decree is demagogic and useless.


The tweet reads, “'Today is the May Day, not the government's party. I claim the value of this day. The government must think of the worker every day of the year and not just on May 1,' Maurizio Landini at a rally in Potenza."

"Labor day is our day! We take to the streets of all of Italy to make the May Day a day of struggle for the workers' rights. Meanwhile, the Meloni administration approves a regulation decreeing the end of the rent basic and exalting the tax wedge reduction", Marta Collot, an Italian teacher, tweeted.

"A real alternative is not to reduce income taxes, something that even orthodox economists... have admitted that 90 percent of tax revenue goes into the pockets of the bosses."

"A real alternative is the fight against poverty, the proposal for a legal minimum wage of at least 10 euros per hour, the elimination of job insecurity, and the fight against workplace deaths," Collot said.

"May Day is our's day of struggle. No Council of Ministers can use it as a catwalk!," the Italian teacher stressed.

[youtube]http://twitter.com/i/status/1620523470890352645[/youtube]

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/War ... -0013.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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