The working people of Cyprus honor this year’s Workers May Day, the international day of struggle and solidarity of working people.
We pay tribute to the pioneering heroes of the 1886 Chicago uprising who, with their sacrifice, became a symbol of the struggle of the international working class.
We pay tribute to the vanguard workers of our country’s worker’s movement, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who with their fierce class struggles in the spirit of internationalism and class solidarity, achieved fundamental achievements for the working class of Cyprus.
This year’s Workers May Day finds workers confronted with unprecedented conditions, as the entire planet is facing the coronavirus pandemic.
At a time when the world is being plagued by the consequences of the pandemic, wars, the uprooting of the peoples, the plight of refugees and ecological disaster is continuing. The pandemic adds new dangers and challenges to the future of the planet, to the social welfare and rights of the peoples and workers.
In the European Union, instead of solidarity, we see fierce competition and the powerful economic interests of states and monopolies prevailing, while billions of Euros are being channeled into the arms war industry instead of health and social welfare.
That is precisely why the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is honoring this year’s International Workers May Day under the slogan “Workers’ health above profits”.
We salute all healthcare workers who, in arduous conditions, and in many cases without the necessary means, are waging the battle to cure our fellow human beings who have been infected by the coronavirus.
The spread of the coronavirus pandemic has created unprecedented conditions for our country as well. Unfortunately, health protection measures do not permit us this year to celebrate Workers May Day together in the traditional way, with the mass celebration of working people.
With this Joint Declaration, we, the Cypriot class-based trade unions PEO, DEV-IS, KTAMS, KTOS, KTOEOS, BES, KOOP-SEN, DAU-SEN that belong to the ranks of the World Federation of Trade Unions, call on the working people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, to rally their forces around the trade union movement and to reaffirm on the occasion of Workers May Day, their commitment to the struggle for peace and social progress.
We are struggling for a just and mutually acceptable solution of the Cyprus problem, for the reunification of our homeland within the framework of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. For a state, with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality, demilitarized and independent, without any “protectors” and “guardians”.
We are fighting to defend and expand the labour and social gains handed down to us by the pioneering Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot trade unionists.
We send out the message that we will not accept under any circumstances the effects of the current crisis being put on the backs of the working people.
– Long live Labor Day!
– Long live the common struggles of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots for peace and social justice!
– Working people’s health above profits!