Today May Day The unions call on mass mobilizations, often with an anti -government sign, looking for answers and joint action.

A look at the Turkey, Italy and France. Today, Labor Day, the rights of workers are at least at the forefront. In most countries on the globe this day is celebrated – with a strike and not a holiday, which says the well -known slogan – with the participation of the majority of workers and massive mobilizations of the country’s unions.

Turkey: Race Day for the whole opposition

In Turkey the May Day It is a race day not only for the trade unions, but for the opposition as a whole – although Erdogan has established her as an official holiday in order to “discharge” her politically.

Especially after the mass demonstrations of 2013, May Day is a traditional day of “conflict” between the opposition and the government. Following Gezi’s mobilizations, Erdogan banned demonstrations at Taksim Square in Istanbul, where Turkish unions traditionally gathered on May Day. From then until today every year this day the government is already closing the square from the night before – but this does not prevent trade unions from gathering there.

This year, of course, Labor May Day will be celebrated differently: the left -wing Disk Federation has decided to move the mobilizations to Canntos, the center of the Asian side of Constantinople. The reason? To take place a massive, opposition mobilization with a key demand: the liberation of the prisoner of Constantinople, Ekrem Imoglou, and hundreds of other political prisoners.

Mass mobilizations in Italy as well

Tens of thousands of citizens will go down the streets of Italy – from Milan and Turin to Rome and Naples, but also to many smaller cities. The country’s three major trade unions, CGIL, CISL and UIL, count about 11 million members and invite the world together to demonstrate.

In Italy the situation is quite ugly for workers and lower and medium -income social strata. The country has the worst payroll from all OECD states: While real salaries increased almost everywhere during the period 1990-2020, it declined by 3%in Italy. And the unions have failed to exert sufficient pressure in order to take steps to tackle high inflation, which has further exacerbated the situation in the last three years. Georgia’s right -wing government is not prepared to discuss with the unions.

Equally bad is the picture of the growth of GDP and the country’s productivity, as Italy has been performing the worst in the whole of the EU in the last three decades. Small businesses dominate the Italian business landscape – and although unions count millions of members, they are usually inactive.

At the same time, the three major trade unions are divided on a political level. Left CGIL and UIL clearly oppose government policies, while CISL does not. Thus, the latter, for example, recently rejected the CGIL and UIL proposal for a minimum wage, seeking to revise labor law, with the aim of making the labor market more flexible – something that does not accumulate the other two trade unions respectively. That is why all three organizations are unable to exert political pressure – even if they are coordinated by the world to go down the streets.

Common requests by French unions

In Paris, on the other hand, the large trade unions celebrate Labor Day separately, but expressing several similar demands.

One of the key positions in which the unions agree on their mobilizations is the 2023 pension reform: the French government and President Macron must review the anti -memoir reform and withdraw the increase in the age limit. Depending on where each trade union is placed in the political spectrum, others are more and more less alternatives to the idea of ​​a reform around social security contributions and retirement. The same is true of other burning issues in French politics, such as investment in equipment and the shift to the so -called “war economy”.

For many years, however, French trade unions have been facing problems in attracting and gathering their members. After the war, 30% of workers belonged to a trade union – but the percentage decreased to 15% in 1980 and since 2000 and then has been limited to only 10%. That is why in France a real social dialogue has never taken place in which the reason for the unions really has the necessary weight.

Trade unions are particularly more powerful in the public sector, especially in the transport and education sectors. And since the French government intends to reduce the costs of education, it is certain that the next conflict with trade unions, as well as a new wave of strikes, will soon come.

Germany: The lens in Kemnic, Berlin, Hamburg

In Germany, the central event of the German union federation was held in the town of Kemnic on the east side of the country to send the necessary political message. The city was once called Carl Marx. The focus was on demands to the new Berlin government, which is expected to be sworn in unexpectedly next Tuesday amid concerns to increase social burdens and measures that could threaten the eight -hour work.

In the German capital itself, about 6,000 police officers are on foot early in the morning, according to Dimitra Kianoudi, as more than 30 rallies and marches are scheduled from noon.

Some of them have a fairly lively tradition, such as the evening “revolutionary course” in Cruitzberg and Nickel. The same is true for Hamburg, where the “black -red” May Day run of the anarchist block is traditionally held with the slogan “We are fighting for utopia – we defend life”. The first celebration of Labor Day in Germany dates back to 1890.

Source: Taz, Tagesschau