Workers across the world march for peace and better pay in May Day rallies

Workers across the world will march in May Day rallies Friday, calling for peace, higher wages and better working conditions as they grapple with rising energy costs and shrinking purchasing power tied to the Iran war.

The day is a public holiday in many countries, and demonstrations, some of which have turned violent in the past, are expected in many of the world's major cities.

“Working people refuse to pay the price for Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East,” the European Trade Union Confederation, which represents 93 trade union organisations in 41 European countries, said. “Today’s rallies show working people will not stand by and see their jobs and living standards destroyed.”

In the United States, activists opposing US President Donald Trump’s policies are planning marches and boycotts.

Here’s what to know about May Day. 

Workers' unions traditionally use May Day to rally around wages, pensions, inequality and broader political issues.

Protests are planned from Seoul, Jakarta and Istanbul to most European Union capitals and cities across the United States. 

Rising living costs linked to the conflict in the Middle East are expected to be a key theme in Friday's rallies.

In the Philippines' capital of Manila, protest organisers said they expect big crowds of workers.

“There will be a louder call for higher wages and economic relief because of the unprecedented spikes in fuel prices,” said Renato Reyes, a leader of the left-wing political group Bayan.

“Every Filipino worker now is aware that the situation here is deeply connected to the global crisis,” said Josua Mata, leader of the SENTRO umbrella group of labour federations.

In Indonesia, labour unions have warned against worsening economic pressures at home.

“Workers are already living paycheck to paycheck,” said Said Iqbal, president of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation.

In Pakistan, May Day is a public holiday marked by rallies, but many daily wage earners cannot afford to take time off.

“How will I bring vegetables and other necessities home if I don’t work?” said Mohammad Maskeen, a 55-year-old construction worker near Islamabad.

Rising oil prices have fuelled inflation, which the government estimates at about 16 percent, in a country heavily reliant on financial support from the International Monetary Fund and allied nations.

In France, unions called for demonstrations in Paris and elsewhere under the slogan “bread, peace and freedom”, linking workers’ daily concerns to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. 

In Italy, the government approved nearly 1 billion euros in job incentives this week, aiming to promote stable employment and curb labour abuses ahead of May Day. The measures extend tax breaks to encourage hiring young people and disadvantaged women, and seek to address exploitation tied to platform-based work. Opposition parties dismissed the package as “pure propaganda”.

In Portugal, proposed labour law changes by the centre-right government sparked a general strike and street protests last year. There is still no deal after nine months of negotiations with unions and employers. Unions say the proposals would weaken workers’ rights, including by expanding overtime limits and reducing some benefits.

May Day carries special meaning this year in France after a heated debate about whether employees should be allowed to work on the country’s most protected public holiday – the only day when most employees have a mandatory paid day off. 

Almost all businesses, shops and malls are closed, and only essential sectors such as hospitals, transport and hotels are exempt.

A recent parliamentary proposal to expand work on the day prompted major outcry from unions and left-wing politicians.

“Don’t touch May Day,” workers' unions said in a joint statement.

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Faced with the controversy, the government this week introduced a bill meant to allow people staffing bakeries and florists to work on the holiday. It is customary in France to give lily of the valley flowers on May Day as a symbol of good luck.

“May 1 is not just any day,” Small and Medium-sized Businesses Minister Serge Papin said. “It symbolises social gains stemming from a century of building social rules that have led to the labour code we know in France. It is indeed a special day.”

Activists and labour unions are organising street protests and boycotts across the United States, where May Day is not a federal holiday. 

May Day Strong, a coalition of activist groups and labour unions, has called on people to protest under the banner of “workers over billionaires”.

Voicing strong opposition to Trump's policies, organisers listed thousands of May Day actions across the country and are seeking an economic blackout through “no school, no work, no shopping”.

Demands include taxing the rich and putting an end to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

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While labour and immigrant rights are historically intertwined, the focus of May Day rallies in the US shifted to immigration in 2006. That’s when roughly 1 million people, including nearly half a million in Chicago alone, took to the streets to protest federal legislation that would have made living in the US without legal permission a felony.

May Day, or International Workers’ Day, dates back more than a century to a pivotal period in US labour history.

In the 1880s, unions pushed for an eight-hour workday through strikes and demonstrations. In May 1886, a Chicago rally protesting the police killing of two striking workers the day before also turned deadly when a bomb was thrown at police, who fired into the crowd in response.

Several labour activists – most of them immigrants and staunch anarchists – were convicted of conspiracy and other charges, despite the fact that the bomber had not been identified; four were executed.

Unions later designated May 1 to honour workers. A monument in Chicago’s Haymarket Square commemorates them with the inscription: “Dedicated to all workers of the world.”

May Day is now observed in much of the world from Europe to Latin America, Africa and Asia.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)