…Demands Wage Hikes, Peace, End To ‘Imperialist Barbarity’
AS THE calendar turns toward May Day 2026, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) — the oldest international trade union organisation, claiming more than 105 million members across every continent — has issued a fierce declaration honouring the 140th anniversary of the 1886 Chicago workers’ struggle, the historic uprising that gave birth to the modern May Day tradition.
In a statement released from its headquarters in Athens, Greece, the WFTU rallied workers, farmers, and ordinary toiling people to reject “submission” and instead answer capitalist barbarity with “new class struggles, determination, and internationalist solidarity.”
The statement, explicitly class-oriented and militant in tone, argues that the same demands voiced by Chicago’s pioneers in 1886 remain “relevant and necessary” today, pointing to a deepening and generalised crisis of capitalism, dramatically widening social inequalities, and a global assault on democratic freedoms and trade union rights.
The Federation, without mincing words, cited the “genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza” and “unimaginable brutality by the Israeli state,” alongside the “unprovoked and murderous attack by the United States and Israel against Iran.”
It also denounced the invasion of Venezuela and the alleged abduction of its legitimate president, as well as “terrorist threats against socialist Cuba” and the ongoing energy embargo aimed at strangling the island’s economy.
“These events,” the WFTU declared, “have once again exposed, in all its magnitude, the hypocrisy, cynicism, and inhuman nature of imperialism.”
Military expenditures, the statement continued, are exploding, with NATO and the European Union intensifying militarization and promoting a war economy as a supposed “developmental outlet,” while ordinary people are forced to pay through austerity, privatisation, and the erosion of social gains.
At the same time, the WFTU noted, energy crises, inflation, and high prices continue to erode workers’ real incomes. Wages remain stagnant even as multinational corporations and energy giants report record profits.
The consequences fall hardest on the most vulnerable: women workers, youth, and migrants face intensified exploitation, lower wages, greater job insecurity, and limited access to health, education, and culture. Workplace health and safety are being systematically degraded, with protective measures treated as a “cost” — leading to rising accidents and fatalities.
“Every day, workers are injured or lose their lives on the altar of profit,” the statement said, “revealing in the most tragic way the priorities of the system.”
Digitalization and artificial intelligence, instead of benefiting workers and society, are being used to intensify labour, monitor workers, and expand precarious, flexible employment. State and employer repression against struggles is also intensifying: trade unionists persecuted, strikes criminalised, migrants and refugees targeted as cheap labour and victims of racism.
Faced with this reality, the WFTU said the working class cannot submit as it issued a detailed list of demands which include wage increases and full collective bargaining rights; effective measures against high prices and inflation; public, free healthcare, education, and social security for all; reduced working time, permanent employment, abolition of flexible labour, and protection for digital platform workers; health and safety measures in every workplace; respect for trade union rights and democratic freedoms, as well as protection of migrants and equal rights for all workers.
The Federation stressed that workers have no stake in the wars and antagonisms of the powerful. “On the contrary, they have everything to gain from unity, solidarity, and common struggle.”
The WFTU called on trade unions worldwide to reject compromise, strengthen struggles, and organise resistance in every workplace, sector, and country.
