Solidaritätserklärung mit ArbeitnehmerInnen und Gemeinschaften in Asien die von verheerenden Flutkatastrophen getroffen wurden

Public Services International (PSI) expresses our deepest solidarity with all workers, unions and communities affected by the destructive floods that have swept through Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, and other parts of Asia this week. Lives have been lost, homes destroyed, and essential infrastructure damaged. Once again, it is working people—especially those already facing precarity—who bear the heaviest burden of climate-driven disasters.

Amid this devastation, frontline workers continue to protect and support their communities. Emergency service workers, health and care workers, local government workers, utility workers, sanitation workers and many others have risked their lives to rescue people, provide medical care, restore essential services, and stabilise affected areas. The situation demonstrates the indispensable value of strong public emergency and disaster-response systems—delivered by workers with decent jobs, proper health and safety equipment, and adequate staffing.

PSI affiliates have responded rapidly and are providing support to their members. We express our respect and solidarity with those affiliates. Affiliates in the Philippines have protested against the corrupt capture of disaster response funds by elites that has made the current situation worse.

These floods are not isolated events. They are part of an escalating pattern of extreme weather fuelled by the global climate crisis. Workers in Asia and the Pacific are increasingly on the frontlines of climate-related destruction, even as their governments face shrinking fiscal space and rising costs.

PSI calls on national governments, international financial institutions and the global community to:

1. Provide immediate support and relief to all affected workers, families and communities, ensuring equitable access to humanitarian assistance through transparent processes monitored by anti-corruption bodies.

2. Invest in strong, publicly delivered emergency services, ensuring decent work, safe staffing levels, and adequate funding for emergency services, health and care, water, sanitation, energy, and local government services.

3. Prosecute officials and private sector actors who have failed to use disaster response and prevention funds for the allocated and promised purposes and create whistleblowing laws and processes to expose corruption.

4. Take urgent global action on the climate crisis, including:

   • Fully supporting Loss and Damage finance that is accessible, adequate and responsive to the needs of frontline countries and communities.

   • Ending harmful sovereign debt repayments and conditionalities that undermine governments’ ability to fund public services and climate adaptation.

   • Rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels through a just, equitable and union-negotiated process that protects workers, communities and public services.

Extreme weather will continue to intensify unless decisive action is taken. Workers should not be forced to choose between protecting their communities and risking their own lives in the face of preventable disasters.

PSI stands with all unions and workers impacted by this week’s floods. We commit to continuing the fight for climate justice, for strong and democratic public services, and for a fairer global system that places people and planet before profit.