"Defend Union Rights! Struggle for a Living wage!", 1 May 2020

COVID-19 disaster... has starkly exposed the vulnerability of workers all around the world, more so in industries that are based on low wages and inhumane working conditions... [It] requires our governments to serve vulnerable communities and the working poor, and... [be] responsive, transparent and participatory. Instead, we see the rise of authoritarianism and undemocratic surveillance under the guise of safety and security...

Employers are using the COVID crisis to intensify their calls for banning of unions. Workers’ unions are being repressed, with unionized garment workers getting thrown out of jobs, and union leaders facing retaliation. Governments, in an exclusive collusion with business, are using the moment to concede to employers’ interests and to accelerate the passing of labour laws that down grade and deny labour rights...

May Day is an occasion to renew our commitment to building and strengthening the worker’s movement locally and globally...

... [M]inimum and prevailing wages in garment industry in Asia are ONLY ONE-THIRD of a Living Wage. We have to fight back and make sure that the changes that take place in export industries like the global fashion industry do not AGAIN plunge garment workers from the edge of precarious working and living to destitution, starvation and homelessness...