This International Workers’ Day arrives at a moment marked by global insecurity, conflict, a climate crisis, the rise of authoritarianism, and rollbacks on democracy, with a deliberate weakening of collective worker power and civic space. Workers’ rights are under threat—especially the rights of women, migrants, LGBTQI+ people, and other structurally marginalized groups, including domestic workers. The global labor movement, which has historically enabled worker organizing and rights-based progress, is being weakened. In this context, unity, solidarity, and collective action among independent and democratic worker organizations are the only way to challenge power and drive change.
This May Day, the IDWF joins its allies in a powerful global call to defend the protections we fought so hard to win and to fight for those still denied to us by claiming our seat at the table where decisions are made and policies are shaped. We are building bridges across movements and borders to respond to the crisis with one voice. Because ours is a shared struggle between those whose rights are being abused and those who never had rights, including those in formal and informal employment, citizen and migrant, organized and unorganized workers. For us, the path forward to ensure access to social, economic, legal, and political justice for workers during this unprecedented time of disruption is clear: organize, unite, and transform systems together.
Read the Joint Statement by Global Labor Justice, Working Horizons, WIEGO, and the International Domestic Workers Federation:
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Read the Joint Statement by WIEGO, HomeNet International, the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, StreetNet International, and the International Domestic Workers Federation:
