- Demands Workers’ Rights
- Calls for Global Worker Solidarity Against Capitalist Crises
IN A CRITICAL New Year statement, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has issued a clarion call to the international working class, framing the emerging year as a pivotal moment for organised resistance against deepening capitalist crisis, imperialist war, and systemic attacks on labour rights.
The statement, addressed to “workers, trade unionists, and progressive peoples across the globe,” asserts that the structural failures of capitalism were starkly confirmed in 2025, manifesting in rising inequality, economic instability, and the erosion of social protections.
It asserts that the international class-oriented trade union movement remains the essential, organised counterforce armed with “experience, organization, and the unbreakable strength of solidarity.”
WFTU condemns what it terms “imperialist aggression and militarization” as central features of the contemporary world, with a sharp criticism of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which it describes as a “genocide” that has claimed over 63,000 lives by the end of 2025.
It argues that the Gaza tragedy “exposes once again the brutal and inhuman nature of imperialism” and that peace processes controlled by imperialist powers cannot secure justice. It pledges “unwavering solidarity” with the Palestinian struggle for “freedom, justice, and self-determination.”
The statement reads in part: “Imperialist aggression and militarization remain central features of today’s world. Wars, occupations, blockades, and sanctions are used as tools to impose political and economic domination, secure profits for monopolies, and control strategic resources and markets.
“The crimes committed against peoples, most tragically illustrated by the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people, expose once again the brutal and inhuman nature of imperialism.
“With over 63,000 lives lost by the end of 2025 and numbers tragically increasing, the genocide in Gaza confirms that ceasefires and agreements imposed by imperialist powers, under their control and supervision, cannot ensure just or lasting peace, as they serve the interests of monopolies and geopolitical dominance rather than the right of the Palestinian people to freedom and dignity, and the end of the occupation and the establishment of their own independent state.”
The statement further extends WFTU’s solidarity to the peoples of Cuba and Venezuela, whom it portrays as victims of “criminal blockade,” “economic warfare,” and “foreign interference” by the United States and its allies.
It specifically denounces recent military deployments near Venezuela as a threat to regional peace and sovereignty, affirming the right of peoples to determine their own future free from external coercion.
“We stand firmly alongside…the people of Cuba in their just demand for the immediate lifting of the criminal blockade and the end of all forms of imperialist pressure and blackmail.
“In the same spirit, the WFTU expresses its firm and unwavering solidarity with the working class and the people of Venezuela, who are facing intensified threats, military provocations, economic warfare, and attempts at foreign interference by U.S. imperialism and its allies.
“We denounce the escalation of aggression, including military deployments in the region under false pretexts, which endanger peace, violate Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threaten the stability of Latin America as a whole.
“The peoples of Venezuela have the non-negotiable right to determine their own future freely and democratically, without coercion, sanctions, blockades, or intervention,” WFTU stated.
On the economic front, the WFTU warns that workers globally face an intensified assault on wages, working conditions, and the very right to organise and strike.
It accuses governments and multinational monopolies of accelerating policies of privatisation, deregulation, and the criminalisation of labour activism.
“The path of collective struggle remains the only dignified and effective path,” the statement declares, outlining a set of non-negotiable demands for the international working class. These include real wage increases, a reduction of the work week to 35 hours without loss of pay, and universal, free access to healthcare, education, and social security.
Bolstered by the commemoration of its 80th anniversary in 2025, the WFTU vows to intensify its actions in 2026, promising to strengthen its structures, expand global coordination, and place special emphasis on organising young workers, women, migrants, and those in precarious employment – groups it identifies as the primary victims of capitalist exploitation.
“Internationalism remains our most powerful weapon, and unity our greatest strength,” the statement proclaims while expressing confidence in the movement’s capacity to secure new victories. It envisions a year of heightened struggle “for social justice, for peace, and for a world free from imperialist wars and the exploitation of man by man.”
