May Day 2026 Statement of IWSAP
The past few months alone have seen an array of socioeconomic crises, impacting various sectors in the Asia Pacific region and around the globe. Politically, the region alone is marred with leaders and big businesses whose only interest is to serve themselves. Meanwhile, all working peoples are shouldering the burden of the lack of political will of states and the uncontrollable wealth extraction of the elites and big corporations from the hands of the exploited.
In the time of war, especially with the recent US-Israel attacks on Iran, workers are at the receiving end of the impacts of the conflict. Inflation has risen, the value of money has significantly decreased especially in less industrialized countries, consumption taxes have paralyzed workers and their families and of course, prices of basic commodities have gone up to an all time high. While these are all happening at once, big businesses have acquired windfall profits from engaging in oil trading and arms production. On top of this, many labor schemes continue to be unjust, causing labor rights violations and low unionization rate, especially for women and other oppressed sectors of society.
As history taught us however, workers are at the forefront of the fight for justice. They are on picket lines demanding fair wages and safe conditions. They are in parliaments pushing for transformative policies. They are in schools and communities raising awareness and building critical consciousness. Workers are organizing not only among themselves but also in solidarity with other sectors, forging alliances to challenge unjust living and working conditions.
On this International Labor Day, IWSAP stands alongside workers from Asia Pacific and beyond as advocates and rights defenders. Now is the time to deepen solidarity, to create and nurture spaces for mutual learning, and to build stronger networks and alliances among formal and informal workers alike. Collectively, we must hold corporations and states accountable for the centuries of exploitation they have done to those who create the wealth of this world. These will all be done by strengthening the workers movement through arousing, organizing, and mobilizing all workers in the region and the battalion of advocates who stand behind them.
Together, we advance the struggle for workers’ rights. Together, we build a future where dignity, fairness, and justice define the world of work and where exploitation is no longer possible.