By Santosh Kumar Mohapatra
International Labour Day, also known as Workers’ Day or May Day, is observed worldwide to honour the contributions and rights of workers across all sectors, manual, skilled, and professional. The day underscores the importance of fair wages, safe working conditions, and constructive dialogue between workers and employers.
For May Day 2026, the slogan “Workers Over Billionaires” has emerged as a defining call of our times. It is a labour-focused rallying cry, particularly championed by the May Day Strong Network and Democratic Socialists on May Day 2026, aimed at combating wealth inequality and corporate influence.
Popularised in global political discourse by leaders such as Bernie Sanders, it encapsulates a fundamental debate in political economy: should economic systems prioritise wealth accumulation for a few, or dignity and security for the many? In India, this slogan has gained renewed relevance amid rising inequality, unemployment, and concerns over labour law reforms.
While labour suffers from decline in real wages and retrenchment, corporations amass wealth. Despite progress, Indian workers continue to face serious challenges: a large informal sector with little job security, low wages and irregular employment, inadequate social security, and emerging concerns in the gig and digital economy.
According to a report by the Foundation for Economic Development, India’s minimum wage structure may be excluding a majority of workers from formal employment, with 64% of workers earning below the legal wage floor. The share of Indian workers with no contract, no Provident Fund, no legal protection is higher than in Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, or Mexico.
The pressures of a 24×7 work culture are no longer limited to stress or burnout; they now carry serious human costs. In recent years, India has witnessed cases of employees, particularly in high-pressure sectors like IT, dying by suicide after prolonged overwork, unrealistic targets, and constant digital surveillance. The new Labour Codes, implemented despite the strong opposition from working class, are likely to make hiring and firing easy and curb the right to protest against injustice.
Data from the International Labour Organization and the Periodic Labour Force Survey show that nearly 85–90% of India’s workforce is in the informal sector. These workers lack written contracts, paid leave, health insurance, or retirement benefits. Even among regular salaried workers, a significant proportion does not have formal job security or social protection. Real wage growth for many categories of workers has remained sluggish, especially when adjusted for inflation.
The issue of wage disparity becomes clearer when productivity is compared with earnings. While corporate profits—especially in sectors like finance, technology, and infrastructure—have risen sharply, wages as a share of GDP have not kept pace.
This indicates that a larger portion of economic gains is being captured by capital rather than labour. While corporates are given benefits such as corporate tax cut and loan writeoffs, workers are impoverished through excessive GST and excise taxes on petroleum products. Corporate profits in India have nearly tripled since the pandemic, reaching Rs 7.1 lakh crore in 2024-25 with the profit-to-GDP ratio reaching a 17-year high of 4.7%. Rebalancing this system requires evidence-based policy choices—strengthening labour rights, ensuring living wages, expanding social security, and implementing a more progressive taxation system.
In reality, the true spirit of May Day in India will be realized when all workers, including those in the informal sector, receive social protection and fair wages and safe working environments are ensured; when women workers are given equal opportunities and pay; and when economic growth is aligned with human dignity and equity.
The writer is an Odisha-based economist and columnist.