ON May 1, International Workers’ Day, the global trade union movement celebrates its achievements. It is a day of political protest, of demonstrations and of festivities.

Celebrating International Workers’ Day in times of corona when lockdowns are keeping us off the streets and at a distance from each other will be different. 

One thing is certain: we will not be silenced. Many of us will spread May Day solidarity through social media and workers across the globe will connect for their first virtual May Day celebration called for by the ITUC and global trade union federations.

May Day 2020 will undoubtedly remind us of the huge battles that lie ahead. Because the Covid-19 pandemic has confronted us with the challenge of our lifetime! 

Never in recent history has a crisis impacted so many at such a large scale in such a short time. Covid-19 has put half our planet on hold. We are faced with an extraordinary health crisis and unthinkable economic and social consequences. 

The necessary quarantine and lockdown measures have come at a huge and unavoidable economic cost. According to the latest IMF forecasts, the EU’s GDP might shrink by 7.5 per cent this year. 

Much of industry is shut down and some warn that the shutdown poses a threat to 59 million jobs in Europe and could bring lasting damage to labour markets. 

Protecting workers is our foremost priority in this emergency. Many industrial workers are currently risking their health as they ensure essential production and services.  

As trade unions we fight to ensure that no worker is forced to work unless safety is guaranteed and that every worker – including non-standard and agency workers – is adequately protected. Plans are now made for a gradual restart of industrial activities.

This requires a new, post-pandemic work organisation with workers’ health and safety at its centre. We insist that this must be negotiated with trade unions and workers’ representatives at the workplace. 

We must also fight for workers’ incomes. Temporary unemployment schemes, paid medical leave, suspension of mortgage payments and others are vital instruments to support workers that are affected by lockdowns.

We certainly welcome the implementation of short-term subsidised work across Europe, such as the UK’s furlough scheme, that helps prevent lay-offs and keeps workers on the payroll. Let us not forget that maintaining purchasing power will also be vitally important for economic recovery. 

With many companies on the brink of collapse, we must fight for workers’ jobs. It will be existential to ensure that companies and the millions of workers they employ can remain afloat. 

Production capacities must be protected, and companies’ liquidity maintained to allow a restart as soon as conditions allow. 

Bridge loans, tax holidays, relaxing state aid and so forth are valuable remedies but for us, it is absolutely clear that public support to companies must be conditional. 

Payment of dividends must be suspended. In certain cases, governments must consider renationalisation of essential companies. Crucially, workers that have been dismissed during this crisis must be reinstated.

Comprehensive economic recovery plans will clearly be needed to reboot the economy and allow industrial activities to re-emerge. 

As a European trade union federation of industrial workers, it is also our role to push governments and the EU to put in place a coordinated and massive post-pandemic recovery plan. 

We will fight for our industries and for a recovery that enables the necessary transition to a digitalised and low-carbon economy. Europe’s recovery must be social, green, and smart!

The challenges faced by governments across Europe are huge and unparalleled. 

We certainly acknowledge the extraordinary efforts to beat the crisis, but we are also alarmed. 

There is a clear and present danger that governments shield the economy at the expense of workers’ rights! Let us not repeat the mistakes of the global financial crisis 2008-09, where politicians upheld employers’ calls for more flexibility and where collective bargaining systems were dismantled, typically in countries most affected by the crisis.

The open-ended rule by decree of Viktor Orban’s government may be an extreme case in Europe but it is also a warning of how workers’ rights can be thrown out. 

By decree, Hungarian employers are given license to diverge from labour laws and disregard collective agreements. They may unilaterally change working hours, cancel holiday rights, lower wages below the minimum wage and terminate work contracts with ease.

In other countries too, attacks on trade unions and attempts to undermine workers’ rights can be observed. The French government, also ruling by decree, allows employers to decide when paid holidays and rest days are taken and, in some sectors, they can raise working hours to 60 hours per week!

Protecting the rights of workers and keeping the unions involved is now more important than ever. Countries like Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy or Sweden demonstrate that it is possible to negotiate solutions that are acceptable for workers and employers. 

Many of the emergency measures to protect jobs and workers have in these countries been agreed at national and sectoral level between employers and trade unions, sometimes with government involvement.

These days, we are painfully reminded that a virus knows no borders, and so, a common European and global response is of paramount importance. The crisis must be overcome by solidarity across societies, by working together and by finding common solutions. Failing to do so will only play into the hands of the populists. 

Our fight for European solidarity will be testing but a battle worth fighting for.

Happy May Day!