On May Day, thousands of people across Asia, Europe, and the Americas took to the streets to protest against inflation and demand economic justice, marking the largest outpouring of worker discontent since the worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns. Despite political tensions in Pakistan and Turkey, high-stakes elections in Russia, and scaled-back events in Moscow, celebrations were held across France, where some 800,000 people marched against President Emmanuel Macron’s retirement age increase. However, while the march was largely peaceful, violence by radicals overshadowed the message, and a Paris police officer was seriously injured by a Molotov cocktail.
In Northern Macedonia, thousands of trade union members protested against a recent government decision granting ministers a 78% raise. In South Korea, tens of thousands of people rallied in its biggest May Day gathering since the pandemic began, demanding an increase in the minimum wage. In Tokyo, labor union members, opposition lawmakers, and academics called for wage increases, criticizing the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to double the defense budget. In Indonesia, demonstrators demanded the repeal of a job creation law that they argued would only benefit businesses.
In Taiwan, thousands of workers protested against what they called the inadequacies of the island’s labor policies, putting pressure on the ruling party before the 2024 presidential election. Protests in Germany kicked off with a “Take Back the Night” rally organized by feminist and queer groups to protest violence directed at women and LGBTQ+ people. More than 70 marches were held across Spain, and powerful unions warned of “social conflict” if low salaries compared to the EU average don’t rise in line with inflation.
In Italy, far-right premier Giorgia Meloni passed measures on Labor Day that it claims demonstrate concern for workers, but opposition lawmakers and union leaders said the measures do nothing to increase salaries or combat temporary contracts. In Venezuela, thousands of workers demanded a minimum wage increase, and in Bolivia, leftist President Luis Arce led a Labor Day march with a major union and announced a 5% increase in the minimum wage, stating that his government “is strong because the unions are strong.” In Brazil, protests focused on part-time and informal sector workers following President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s recent description of those workers as “almost like slaves.”
