On this International Labor Day, the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV) stands in solidarity with millions of working people across Asia who continue to toil under increasingly precarious conditions. Wars of aggression and the relentless plunder of our countries’ resources have deepened poverty and stripped workers of the right to safe and dignified work.

Across Asia, occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) rights violations continue to claim thousands of workers’ lives every year. Weak enforcement of existing occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation, absence of accountability for corporations that violate OSH standards, and governments’ continued neglect of their responsibility embolden employers to sacrifice workers’ lives for profit. Factory fires, collapses in construction sites, chemical exposures in industrial zones — these disasters repeat themselves because a culture of neglect and impunity persists.

The outsourcing of hazards has resulted in severe environmental and health risks among local and migrant workers. Moreover, informal workers and platform workers are among the most vulnerable — with little to no social protection, unsafe conditions, and zero recourse when injured or killed on the job.

Workers across Asia also suffer from long working hours, bound to race-to-the-bottom wages. Emerging risks demand urgent attention as well: psychosocial risks driven by overwork, stress, and the mounting health and safety threats posed by climate change — extreme heat, intensifying disasters, and environmental degradation, now shape the daily reality of Asian workers.

Amid these worsening conditions, we condemn the continued repression of workers who dare to organize. Union-building remains a dangerous act across much of Asia. OEHS advocates, lawyers, OEHS victims and community organizers face harassment and judicial persecution through abusive legal suits designed to silence them.

ANROEV embraces the challenge before us. We call on workers, unions, advocates, OEHS rights victims and communities across Asia to unite, organize, and mobilize — for safe workplaces, a healthy environment, and the full protection of workers’ and people’s health and rights. Our struggles are connected. Our strength lies in solidarity and collective action.