WFTU Statement on International Day of Peace, Sept.1st

 12 Aug 2026 by WFTU HQ

The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant voice of hundreds of militant trade unions from all over the globe with more than 105 million workers in their ranks, once again honors the established International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace on September 1st, 2026, on the occasion of the dark anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War with Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland.

As in every previous year, the WFTU calls upon its members and friends to actively participate in the International Action Day, taking initiatives and organizing actions for the remembrance of the millions of victims of Nazi and fascist atrocities, as well as the countless victims of the imperialist conflicts for the sake of big capital’s profit.

In an era of increased military expenses, and amid the general enforcement of the war economy and the rearing of fascism, racism, and xenophobia, the militant and class-oriented trade unions and workers all over the world should stand up and fight back, unequivocally condemning imperialism and its new and old wars, plans and interventions. The people have no interest in aligning themselves with any imperialist power center or alliance.

It is, after all, no accident nor coincidence that the recent NATO Summit, held in Ankara last July, confirmed the deepening intervention plans of the USA, the European Union, and their allies.

The decisions for new procurements and expanding collective manufacturing capacity of NATO, the soaring military expenditures within the framework of the war economy, further increase the risk of a generalized imperialist conflict with disastrous consequences for the peoples.

The peoples all over the world know there is nothing to expect from their war but death, misery, refugees, poverty and deterioration of their living conditions. Workers all over the world know that the tremendous resources channeled into the war economy are drained away at the expense of the welfare state, education, healthcare, wages, pensions, and benefits for the popular strata.

The WFTU firmly reiterates the demand for an end to all imperialist interventions, full and unconditional respect for the sovereignty, independence, and the right of every people to determine their own present and future. We reject the exclusions, discriminatory measures, blockades, and sanctions imposed by the USA, the EU, and their allies on numerous countries, which directly affect the daily lives of ordinary people. We assert the demand for the dissolution of NATO and all military coalitions, and the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. No participation in imperialist wars or military missions. Military forces must return to their own countries, and the struggle of the working class in every country for disengagement from NATO, the EU and every imperialist alliance, and for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, must be strengthened.

We unequivocally condemn and denounce the genocide against the Palestinian people by the murdering state of Israel, and we demand an immediate end to ethnic cleansing practices; we demand an end to occupation and settlements in the occupied Arab territories, guarantee the right of return for the refugees, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. We strongly condemn the unprovoked attack by the US – Israel against Iran, the attacks in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, the murderous intervention in Venezuela and the abduction of its president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Moreover, we denounce the intensified imperialist aggression against Cuba, the criminal economic, commercial, and financial blockade and ideological war imposed by the United States, which aims to suffocate the Cuban economy and deliberately creates enormous difficulties for the Cuban people.

We demand an end to the war in Ukraine, which is being waged on Ukrainian territory between the Euro-Atlantic camp of the USA, NATO and the EU, and Russia and the demand the end to all armed confrontation all over the globe. We condemn the interventions of NATO and the EU and all participation in imperialist bloodshed anywhere in the world.

At the same time, we denounce the stance of the ITUC and the yellow unions, which, either through the positions they express or through the conscious absence of any reaction or protest against these policies, in practice support imperialist militaristic plans, providing them with political backing.

The WFTU salutes the militant initiatives and the relentless struggles of the working class and their unions that send a clear message that they oppose any involvement of their countries in wars, refusing to work for the production, loading, and transfer of weapons and military equipment, and boycotting any collaboration or facilitation linked with the active battlefronts.  We call on workers all over the globe to organize and support initiatives in this direction, such as the upcoming International Day of Action of Dockworkers and Port Workers against war and militarization on October 30th, 2026.

Let us all actively participate in the International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace, strengthening the militant initiatives of trade unions against imperialist war and capitalist exploitation, for the overthrow of the system that breeds war, poverty, and forced displacement, and for a society free from the exploitation of one human being by another.

The Secretariat