Activists worldwide kick off May Day rallies Friday, demanding peace, higher wages, and better working conditions. The day is a public holiday in many countries and demonstrations are expected in major cities. The European Trade Union Confederation emphasizes that workers are refusing to bear the costs of conflicts like the Iran war. In the U.S.
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Tips for making a mint julep worthy of the Kentucky DerbyPope prays with Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally in historic encounter, vows dialogueLíder supremo iraní dice que Teherán protegerá sus"capacidades nucleares y de misiles"Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026. Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026.
The banner in center reading as ‘red salute to the martyrs of Chicago and the struggle will continue until economic exploitation is ended’ Activist and workers raise their clenched fists during a May Day rally in Manila, Philippines, May 1, 2025. Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026.
Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026. Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026.
The banner in center reading as ‘red salute to the martyrs of Chicago and the struggle will continue until economic exploitation is ended’ Members of trade unions take part in a rally a day ahead of the International Labor Day, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, April 30, 2026. The banner in center reading as ‘red salute to the martyrs of Chicago and the struggle will continue until economic exploitation is ended’ Activist and workers raise their clenched fists during a May Day rally in Manila, Philippines, May 1, 2025.
Activist and workers raise their clenched fists during a May Day rally in Manila, Philippines, May 1, 2025. PARIS — Activists worldwide will march in May Day rallies Friday, calling for peace, higher wages and better working conditions as many workers grapple with 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 organizations in 41 European countries, said. “Today’s rallies show working people will not stand by and see their jobs and living standards destroyed. ”Rising living costs linked to the conflict in the Middle East is expected to be a key theme in Friday’s rallies.
In the Philippines’ capital of Manila, protest organizers 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,” Renato Reyes, a leader of the left-wing political group Bayan, told The Associated Press. “Every Filipino worker now is aware that the situation here is deeply connected to the global crisis,” said Josua Mata, leader of SENTRO umbrella group of labor federations. In Indonesia, labor 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 fueled inflation, which the government estimates at about 16%, in a country heavily reliant on financial support from the International Monetary Fund and allied nations. 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. 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 labor 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 labor law changes by the center-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. Faced with the controversy, the government this week introduced a bill meant to expand May Day work to people staffing bakeries and florists. 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 symbolizes social gains stemming from a century of building social rules that have led to the labor code we know in France. It is indeed a special day. ”Activists and labor unions are organizing 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 labor unions, has called on people to protest under the banner of “workers over billionaires. ” Voicing strong opposition to Trump’s policies, organizers listed thousands of May Day actions across the country and are seeking an economic blackout through “no school, no work, no shopping. ” While labor and immigrant rights are historically intertwined, the focus of May Day rallies in the U.S. 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’ve made living in the U.S. without legal permission a felony. May Day, or International Workers’ Day, traces back more than a century to a pivotal period in U.S. labor history. In the 1880s, unions pushed for an eight-hour workday through strikes and demonstrations.
In May 1886, a Chicago rally turned deadly when a bomb exploded and police responded with gunfire. Several labor activists — most of them immigrants — were convicted of conspiracy and other charges; four were executed. Unions later designated May 1 to honor workers. A monument in Chicago’s Haymarket Square commemorates them with the inscription: “Dedicated to all workers of the world.
”AP journalists Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Giada Zampano in Rome, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this story. Corbet is an Associated Press reporter based in Paris. She covers French politics, diplomacy and defense as well as gender issues and breaking news. Trump signs bill to end record Homeland Security shutdown, averting more airport disruptions
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