May 4, 2026 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French.
On May 1, nearly 300,000 people demonstrated across [France] for International Workers’ Day, reminding us that only our solidarity can help us stand up to attacks by employers. A mobilization that some would love to see disappear! Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, while campaigning, declared: “Labor law too often stands in the way of the right to work. ”
Under capitalism, people die from work
But what “right to work” is he talking about? The right to work longer hours, under harsher conditions, with fewer protections and greater risks?
On April 17, a 22-year-old temp worker was caught in a machine and a 15-year-old high school intern was crushed by a forklift. In 2025, 1,297 workers died in France as a result of their professional activities—more than three per day. Since January 2026, twelve railway workers have committed suicide, revealing the extent of work-related psychological suffering. This is what the “right to work” means when spoken by those who do not work.
Ever more exploitation, ever more profits
Meanwhile, the presidential campaign is kicking off, and pro-business—but above all anti-worker—statements are multiplying. The president of the National Rally (extreme-rightwing party), Jordan Bardella, his belly still full from his recent lunch at the bosses’ association MEDEF, proposes increasing the workweek from 35 to 37 hours, which would add two hours of work per week for those working the legal schedule and take away two hours of overtime from those forced to work more.
Why should we work more, as the right and the far right would like, when layoffs are on the rise? When millions of workers are already out of work, with all the hardships that entails, starting with being cut off from social life?
The 2,000 workers at Stellantis Poissy (auto) threatened by the closure of their plant, will appreciate this—as will all those affected by layoff plans, from Nestlé to ArcelorMittal (multinational steel-making) , including Novasco and Vencorex, as well as their subcontractors.
The fact is, management’s logic is to lay off workers left and right and intensify the workload for those who remain, in order to boost already colossal profits. In 2025, CAC 40 (French stock market index) companies paid out a record 107.5 billion euros ($125.7 billion) in dividends.
We must ban layoffs and raise wages!
There is no shortage of work! We are already working too much, under exhausting conditions. What we need is to work fewer hours, without losing pay, and to share the work among everyone to put an end to unemployment.
We must also raise wages: there is no reason why all those already struggling due to low wages should suffer from rising prices for energy and essential goods—a consequence of savage capitalist competition, which inevitably leads to trade wars and wars period. And while we’re scraping by, corporations like Total (petroleum) are raking in record profits.
But nothing will come from above. Only our collective organization—in factories, hospitals, offices, and construction sites—can lead to a united struggle to impose, in the face of the bosses’ all-out offensive, wage increases, a ban on layoffs, and a reduction in working hours.
