Workers, activists and others in Asian capitals and European cities took to the streets yesterday to mark May Day with protests over rising prices and government labor policies and calls for greater labor rights.
May Day, which falls on May 1, is observed in many countries to celebrate workers’ rights. May Day events have also given many an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands.
Police in Istanbul, Turkey, detained dozens of people who tried to reach the central Taksim Square in defiance of a government ban on marking International Workers’ Day at the landmark location.
Photo: AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has long declared Taksim off-limits for rallies and demonstrations on security grounds, but some political parties and trade unions have vowed to march to the square, which holds symbolic value for labor unions.
In Indonesia, workers voiced anger at a new law they said violates their rights and hurts their welfare, and demanded protections for migrant workers abroad and a minimum wage raise.
About 50,000 workers from Jakarta’s satellite cities of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi were expected to join May Day marches in the capital, Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions president Said Iqbal said.
They gathered amid a tight police presence near the National Monument park, waving the colorful flags of labor groups and chanting slogans against the Job Creation Law and loosened outsourcing rules during a march to Jakarta’s main sports stadium, Gelora Bung Karno.
“With the enactment of this law, our future is uncertain because many problems arise in wages, severance pay and the contract system,” protester Isbandi Anggono said.
Indonesia’s parliament last year ratified a government regulation that replaces a controversial law on job creation, but critics said it still benefits businesses.
The law was intended to cut bureaucracy as part of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s efforts to attract more investment to the country.
In Seoul, thousands of protesters sang, waved flags and shouted pro-labor slogans at the start of their rally.
Organizers said their rally was primarily meant to step up their criticism of what they call anti-labor policies pursued by the conservative government led by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
“In the past two years under the Yoon Suk-yeol government, the lives of our laborers have plunged into despair,” Yang Kyung-soo, leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which organized the rally, said in a speech. “We can’t overlook the Yoon Suk-yeol government. We’ll bring them down from power for ourselves.”
KCTU union members decried Yoon’s veto of a bill in December last year aimed at limiting companies’ rights to seek compensation for damages caused by strikes by labor unions. They also accuse Yoon’s government of handling the 2022 strikes by truckers too aggressively and insulting construction sector workers whom authorities believed were involved in alleged irregular activities.
“The remarkable growth of the Republic of Korea was thanks to the sweat and efforts of our workers. I thank our 28.4 million workers,” Yoon said in a May Day message posted on Facebook. “My government and I will protect the precious value of labor.”
In Japan, more than 10,000 people gathered at Yoyogi Park in downtown Tokyo for a May Day event, demanding salary increases that they said could sufficiently set off price increases. During the rally, Masako Obata, the leader of the left-leaning National Confederation of Trade Unions, said that dwindling wages have put many workers in Japan under severe living conditions and widened income disparities.
“On this May Day, we unite with our fellow workers around the world standing up for their rights,” she said, shouting “banzai” or long life, to all workers.
In the Philippine capital, Manila, hundreds of workers and left-wing activists marched and held a rally in the scorching summer heat to demand wage increases and job security amid soaring food and oil prices.
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