“As President of Ireland, may I send my very best wishes to all those celebrating May Day, be they in Ireland or across the world.
May Day, International Workers’ Day, is one of the most important days of the year for expressing the shared solidarity of workers wherever they may be and in whatever circumstances, to celebrate the crucial role which trade unions have played, and continue to play, in advocating for our collective rights and the building of a stronger, more inclusive society.
I particularly welcome the fact that this year’s May Day introduces Ireland’s ‘Trade Union Week’, building on the campaign of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ ‘Better in a Trade Union’.
The rights of workers today owe so much to the efforts of trade unionist women and men. Ireland has a long and proud tradition of trade unionism - a movement which has played a key role in securing human rights, that in the Irish experience is inextricably interlinked with our nation’s struggle for independence.
Membership of a trade union has secured and protected the irreducible right to dignity in the workplace and in our society, ever more important in changing economic conditions globally and locally. History tells us that the best outcomes for workers, their defence and their prospects, continue to be best achieved by being a trade union member.
So much is possible, and can be made possible, through our collective action. For so many around the world, the battle for decent work and all it entails continues to be one of the defining struggles of our times, one that can be genuinely inclusive and emancipatory and joyful for all who participate in the cause.
The challenge remains of creating a society that is more equal, one in which all work is valued, without discrimination or being narrowly defined by the market, a society where all jobs are decent, fulfilling and secure, together with adequate social protection. Workers in the care sector are in one of the most important parts of our society and their work deserves that this be recognised.
It is to the trade union movement that workers can look with both ambition and realism, learn how to focus on what might be termed ‘the art of the possible’ that is embedded in the international vision that unions have historically exemplified, envisioned in terms of what we can achieve together, tapping humans’ endless capabilities within a framework of protective, inclusive labour rights, rights that safeguard workers, particularly the most vulnerable.
May Day is thus a special occasion when, across the world, and with an international vision, unions and union members can reclaim and speak out in their role as the best source of change and prospect for securing the socially just, sustainable, and ecologically responsible forms of economy and society which can best serve humanity in all its diversity.
Let us all therefore, on this International Workers’ Day, commit once again to playing our part in the creation of a society that removes all of the hurdles standing between so many of our people and their personal and social fulfilment. Let us together build a sustainable, just, inclusive future on our shared, vulnerable planet.
So on this special day shared by workers all over the world, let us hear it loud and clear. Join the union, and in protecting and redefining the world of work, together build a decent, fulfilling world.
Le chéile is féidir ár feidireachtaí a ghabháil ar leas muintir an domhain uilig. As lámhaibh a chéile tiocfaidh an domhan atá ag teastáil.”
ENDS
