Egyptian activist and labor leader Kamal Abbas called for solidarity and justice in Zurich today, as he addressed some 12,000 demonstrators participating in May Day.

It was one of 50 such labor demonstrations under the left’s slogan “More protection, salary and retirement.”

Social Democrat Federal Councillors were speaking today in Bern and Fleurier in the canton of Neuchatel. 

St. Gallen MP Paul Rechsteiner, who is also president of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, told Radio DRS, “We’re defending salaries, retirement. We want good salaries, good retirement.”

He said the Swiss economy was holding up well, as it has been, despite the strong Swiss franc. 

“These results need to be reinforced by supporting low and middle-income workers,” he said. ”In the last years this is where big mistakes have been made.”

Demonstrations this year have so far remained peaceful, with no reports of violent clashes between some activists and police, as seen in the past.