The World Federation of Trade Unions released its May Day poster and a May Day statement May Day 2020: The current situation and our duties. Excerpt:
The World Federation of Trade Unions, on the occasion of May Day 2020, salutes the workers in all continents; all those whose work continues to move the gears of life even in difficult conditions such as the Coronavirus Pandemic and keeps producing all the necessary goods so that life may continue and the needs of workers and popular strata can be met.
We honor the millions of employees in public healthcare systems around the world: doctors, nurses, all healthcare workers, who amidst the Coronavirus pandemic struggle every day to save the patients from the pandemic without even having the necessary protective and medical equipment, risking their own health and lives. They are at the frontline of struggle, with courage and self-denial, lifting the burden of care and treatment in a middle of a pandemic that already counts millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths, in a public healthcare system deteriorated by underfunding and discredited by the policies of all capitalist governments, which consciously undermine the public healthcare system and privatize its neuralgic activities to enhance the speculative profitability of multinationals.
The workers and the popular strata, we unite our voices with those of the militant healthcare workers, we stand in solidarity with their struggle and we demand immediate coverage of the vacancies, adequacy of public health infrastructure and materials to serve the permanent and temporary needs of the people; Requisition of the private sector and abolition of the commercialization and privatization of Health and Welfare. Free public universal and high-quality health services. Workers’ health over profit!
We salute the workers in production and distribution of food and basic necessities, in supermarkets, in pharmaceutical sector, in cleaning services, in energy sector and other services, who through their work ensure the access of workers and peoples to everything necessary for their survival.
At the same time, on the occasion of the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, we denounce the huge attack on workers’ labor rights through layoffs, lack of payment, undeclared work and the restriction of trade union freedoms....
...Against capitalist antagonisms and speculation, the workers and peoples raise our solidarity and proletarian internationalism, following the example of Cuba, which has sent specialized doctors to fourteen countries affected by the Pandemic, the example of the workers of Italy who organized a general strike in support of doctors and workers, following the example of workers in all countries who do not remain silent, who counter fight also this crisis with militant slogans in solidarity to all peoples.
The migrant workers in Chicago, who struggled and sacrificed their lives in May 1886 for the establishment of the 8-hour working day, paved the way of the world working class for the continuous claim of its rights.
The international class-oriented labor movement through the lines of WFTU honors the legacy of their struggle and continues under any circumstance, despite the difficulties, to struggle for the coverage of the workers’ modern needs and the abolition of exploitation. For the emancipation of the working class and its liberation from capitalist barbarism.
Click here for the full statement and list of demands.
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