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Labor Organizations Demand Tax Justice on May Day

Posted on May 4, 2020

Although the coronavirus caused many May Day demonstrations to be canceled, unions and workers’ rights organizations around the world called for tax relief and tax justice measures for essential workers during the pandemic.

On International Workers’ Day, a holiday celebrated May 1 in many parts of the world, many trade union leaders said the coronavirus has increased the need for support of essential workers.

Comprehensive policies are needed to support essential workers long past the pandemic’s end, said Luc Triangle, general secretary of the IndustriALL European Trade Union, which represents over 7 million workers in 200 European trade unions. He said the government should urge companies to suspend dividend payments and offer bridge loans and tax holidays for essential workers.

In an April 28 letter to EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, Triangle said tax justice must form the basis of any coronavirus recovery package. This could be achieved through a tax on single-use plastics, the introduction of a digital tax, a more progressive tax system, and strong antiavoidance and anti-evasion measures. The European Public Service Union echoed the call for tax justice actions in the EU in a May 1 statement.

“The question is not whether we can afford to have quality public education; the question is if we can afford not to have it. We need full funding based on public needs with everybody paying their fair share and no tax evasion in order to rebuild after this terrible crisis and protect the current and future wellbeing of working people, communities, and society,” said Susan Flocken, director of the European Trade Union Committee for Education, in a May 1 statement.

In Ireland the Derry Trades Union Council, in a May 1 opinion piece in the Derry Journal, called for essential frontline workers to receive a tax-free £1,500 payment. It also said workers should get four more bank holidays, a living wage, and universal basic income.

Left-wing Maltese nongovernmental organization Moviment Graffitti said in a May 1 statement that for essential workers to achieve better working conditions, higher earners with assets must be taxed more and average wages should rise. It also said employees should be given shares in the companies they work for, and that employers should transfer nonproductive assets to public ownership.

In South Africa, nurses are organizing for better pay, treatment, and personal protective equipment as essential frontline workers during the pandemic. The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union, which organized a national “stay away” on May 1, is demanding a six-month income tax break, permanent employment of unemployed nurses, and government-sponsored transportation for nurses working to contain the pandemic.

The nurses’ demands are similar to those granted in a $720 million stimulus package announced May 1 in Zimbabwe. Under that plan, healthcare workers will not be taxed for the next six months to free up their earnings.

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