01/05/2026
๐๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐! ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ!
May Day Statement 2026
BAYAN Australia along with its allied organisations commemorates International Workerโs day in militancy with workers around the world.
Amidst widespread contractualisation and extremely low wages in continuously worsening work conditions, Filipino workers continue to demand a 1,200 Pesos National Minimum Wage increase that is able to support a family of five in order to survive daily in the country. This is a call echoed by Overseas Filipino Workers who are directly affected by criminally low wages in the Philippines, with many of them supporting their struggling families and friends back home through remittances.
Early this year, the militancy of Filipino workers was in full display, with transport workers leading multiple days of nationwide strikes amidst the global oil crisis. They decisively demanded the removal of the Oil deregulation law along with the Value added Tax (VAT) and Excise Tax on fuel, and the end of the US imperialist war of aggression against Iran.
Workers at Kowloon House won their collective bargaining agreement after striking for 6 days despite intimidation from management. Kowloon house then proceeded to retaliate on the united ranks of the workers by unjustly removing 80 of their workers. However, workers remain resolute in fighting for their livelihood along with their right to unionise and strike.
Aside from economic demands, Filipino workers were also able to lead broader struggles of the Filipino people against US imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. Alongside the youth, They have been at the forefront of the anti-corruption mass movement that has mobilised hundreds of thousands and called for the scrapping of all military agreements with Washington. Workers opposed the presence of foreign troops, as the largest month-long annual โBalikatan exercisesโ to date involving 10,000 troops alongside US, Australian, and Japanese forces began to conduct joint military exercises in projecting regional influence in the Indo-Pacific. The puppetry of the US-Marcos regime to the United States only stands to put the Filipino people in harmโs way, as US imperialism wages its war of aggression in West Asia and continue to instigate armed conflict in the Asia-Pacific and around the world.
This international workerโs day, Filipino workers also give their highest honours to the peopleโs martyrs brutally massacred by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Negros. Activists and human rights defenders integrating with peasant communities were indiscriminately killed by the military in a fascist attack, including University of the Philippines student councillor, Alyssa Alano, Altermidya journalist, RJ Ledesma, Peasant advocates, Errol Wendel and Maureen Santuyo, overseas Filipino activists and US citizens, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem, and two minors alongside 10 other revolutionary martyrs. Throughout the years, they have stood alongside workers in their many struggles, and will be remembered as heroes of the Filipino people as the struggle for national and social liberation in the Philippines continue until victory.
Filipino workers are ever more determined to fulfill their historical role in leading the fight for genuine democracy and freedom in the Philippines. They are also steadfast in linking their arms with the workers of the world in confronting the scourge of US imperialism and its senseless wars. Forged in arduous struggle with nothing to lose but their chains, Filipino workers look towards the building of a free and just Philippines, and to building a new world free from exploitation and oppression.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฐ๐, ๐ก๐ฎ๐ค๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฒ๐!
๐๐,๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ฌ ๐
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ!
๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ!
๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ ๐๐!
๐๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐! # #
