{"id":10272,"date":"2023-05-01T00:01:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T22:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/?post_type=news&p=10272"},"modified":"2023-05-01T09:44:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T07:44:46","slug":"rising-together-may-day","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/news\/rising-together-may-day\/","title":{"rendered":"On May Day, we are rising together\u202f\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
International Workers\u2019 Day, 1 May, UNI Global Union is in solidarity with all workers all over the world who are fighting \u2013 and winning.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The pandemic showed that our work is essential. Three years on, workers are not content to wait for our fair share, whether we are <\/span>striking journalists<\/span><\/a> in T\u00fcrkiye or <\/span>cleaners<\/span><\/a> in New Zealand or the many strikers across the UK and Germany who are using our collective power to win. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Nor will we sit back in the face of takeaways or attacks on our conditions, as <\/span>French unionists<\/span><\/a> have demonstrated through their protests over new retirement rules.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n UNI General Secretary Christy Hoffman<\/strong> said:\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n We come together on 1 May to celebrate our victories and to support those in struggle. The past year has shown that when we fight, we win. As we have emerged from the pandemic, \u00a0workers have organized,\u00a0gone on strike and fought for progress in \u00a0collective bargaining with new energy and determination. They have shown there is power in our anger, and there is strength in our hope, but most of all there is the ability to change the world in our solidarity.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n As a global labour movement, our goal is to shift the balance of power from the few to the many. To do this, we must organize and to expand collective bargaining to\u00a0all workers.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n We fight for respect and for\u00a0family supporting wages which reward our productivity and enable us to live and work with dignity. \u00a0 We demand safer jobs and a decent retirement. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n We unite \u00a0for a world of racial justice, gender justice climate justice and respect for human rights. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n And we are rising together.\u202f<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n Below are\u00a0a few highlights of the the ways in which workers are rising together to build a better future for all.<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Taking on the cost-of-living crisis\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The cost-of-living crisis has afflicted every corner of the globe, and unions around the world offer an answer: bargaining for higher wages. With their unions, millions of workers have been able to maintain \u2013 or improve \u2013 their standards of living in the face of skyrocketing inflation. And many others are still fighting to bring employers to the negotiation table.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n More than 200,000 commerce workers gained a well-deserved <\/span>pay increase in Finland<\/span><\/a> through a new sectoral agreement that took inspiration from a similar sectoral win in Germany. Montenegro Telekom workers won a <\/span>136-day strike<\/span><\/a> that resulted in higher salary and a stronger recognition of their rights.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n In Japan, unions pushed for <\/span>higher-than predicted pay rises<\/span><\/a> during their annual wage negotiations known as the \u201cShunto\u201d or spring offensive. Workers in South Africa are calling on Massmart to <\/span>stop union busting at its Makro stores<\/span><\/a>, after workers there stood for better pay among other improvements.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Today, 1 May, the contract for some 9,000 TV and movie writers in the United States expires. They took a <\/span>strike<\/span><\/a> vote last week to authorize a strike that could shut down that country\u2019s entertainment industry if a contract without fair pay isn\u2019t negotiated.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Organizing for worker power\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The global swell of worker organizing that began last year continues to rise in 2023. For example, tech workers are responding to widespread <\/span>layoffs<\/span><\/a> and inadequate working conditions with strikes,\u202fprotests, and unionizing efforts\u202facross the globe.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Google<\/span><\/a>\u2019s European workforce\u202f \u2013 including workers in <\/span>Switzerland<\/span><\/a> and the UK where there have been recent walkouts \u2013\u202f will soon be covered by the first-ever European Works Council (EWC), and workers at <\/span>Google Korea<\/span><\/a> formed their union.\u202f At Spotify, TikTok, Twitter and beyond there has also been a surge of cross-border activity.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Amazon workers continue their years-long struggle for justice on the job. Most recently, fed up with unsafe work for too-low wages, warehouse employees in the <\/span>United Kingdom and Spain<\/span><\/a> went on strike last month. In one UK fulfilment centre, GMB union members have <\/span>met the threshold for <\/span>mandatory union recognition<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n