Work is killing 3 million workers worldwide each year. Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), says that dying to work must end now, and health and safety must be recognised as a fundamental right for all workers.
In the last three years, more than 9 million workers have died because of the work they do. As Italian and Spanish-speaking trade unionists say, “Basta!” Enough!
Every year, Victorian Trades Hall Council hosts a memorial service to remember those Victorians who lost their lives at work. This year’s memorial service will be held in person at 10:30AM at Trades Hall. RSVP here or by following the link below.
Please join us on the 28th of April for International Workers Memorial Day 2022 to commemorate the workers we’ve lost in the past year. If you aren’t able to attend in person, the event will also be live-streamed through the Victorian Trades Hall Council Facebook page.
The ceremony will include a minute of silence at 11am and an opportunity to lay wreaths.
A message from Jessica E. Martinez and Marcy Goldstein-Gelb
Co-Executive Directors, National COSH
Friends,
Workers’ Memorial Week will begin on April 23rd this year and continue through May 1. Across the country and around the globe, we’ll see worker actions, vigils and events to honor workers who have been killed, injured, and made sick on the job.
and more resources for planning and carrying out a Workers’ Memorial Week event.
Got a memorial event coming up in your workplace or community? Let us know here and we’ll add it to the WMW Action Map.
National COSH will release our 2022 Dirty Dozen report on unsafe employers on Wednesday, April 27 at 2 pm ET/1 pm CT/12 noon MT/ 11 am PT. If you’d like to join the release event on Zoom, please register here.
Thanks much – and if you have questions or need any assistance with an upcoming event, please contact National COSH at info@nationalcosh.org.
In solidarity,
Jessica E. Martinez
Marcy Goldstein-Gelb
Co-Executive Directors, National COSH
Día Mundial de la Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo 2022: Actuar juntos para construir una cultura de seguridad y salud positive. español
Journée mondiale de la sécurité et de la santé au travail 2022: Agir ensemble pour instaurer une culture positive de la sécurité et de la santé français
The World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2022 will be commemorated on 28 April 2022 and will explore the topic of participation and social dialogue in creating a positive safety and health culture.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen that having a strong OSH system, which includes meaningful participation of governments, employers, workers, public health actors and all relevant parties at the national and enterprise level, has been crucial in protecting working environments and safeguarding the safety and health of workers.
Through effective social dialogue, governments and social partners actively participate in all phases of OSH decision-making processes. This is important from the development and revision of OSH policy and regulatory frameworks to address persistent and new OSH challenges, to actual application at workplace level. Social dialogue not only contributes to improving OSH policies and strategies, but it is also essential to build ownership and commitment, easing the way for their rapid and more effective implementation.
At the workplace level, a strong OSH culture is one in which the right to a safe and healthy working environment is valued and promoted by both management and workers. A positive OSH culture is built on inclusion, through the meaningful involvement of all parties in the ongoing improvement of safety and health at work. In a workplace with a strong OSH culture, workers feel comfortable raising concerns about possible OSH risks or hazards in the workplace and management is proactive in collaborating with workers to find appropriate, effective and sustainable solutions. This requires open communication and dialogue built on trust and mutual respect.
As we continue to live through a global health crisis and face ongoing OSH risks in the world of work, we must continue to move toward building a strong safety and health culture at all levels.
The World Day will be commemorated on the 28 April 2022 and will feature a report, PowerPoint and global webinar.
À l’occasion de la Journée internationale de commémoration des travailleuses et des travailleurs #IWMD22, les organisations syndicales font pression en exigeant que la santé et la sécurité soient finalement reconnues comme l’un des principes et droits fondamentaux au travail.
La CSI et ses organisations affiliées appellent les gouvernements à prendre des mesures pour :
ratifier et mettre en oeuvre les conventions fondamentales de l’OIT sur la sécurité et la santé ;
ratifier et mettre en oeuvre toutes les conventions sectorielles ou sur les risques professionnels ;
établir des instances nationales chargées de la santé et de la sécurité regroupant des représentants des syndicats et des employeurs ;
assurer des services de santé au travail pour tous et garantir des mesures d’indemnisation appropriées, notamment en reconnaissant la Covid-19 comme maladie professionnelle.
Workers’ unions are pressing their demand this International Workers’ Memorial Day #IWMD22 to finally make health and safety at work a fundamental principle and right.
The ITUC and its affiliates are calling on governments to take action by:
ratifying and implementing core ILO health and safety conventions;
ratifying and implementing all sectoral or hazard-specific conventions;
establishing national health and safety bodies bringing unions and employer representatives together;
requiring occupational health services for all, and proper compensation including making Covid-19 a recognised occupational disease.
Con ocasión de la Jornada Internacional de Conmemoración #IWMD22, sindicatos de todo el mundo presionan reclamando que por fin se considere la salud y seguridad como un derecho fundamental en el trabajo.
La CSI y sus afiliadas piden además a los Gobiernos que tomen medidas para:
ratificar e implementar los convenios básicos de la OIT sobre salud y seguridad;
ratificar e implementar todos los convenios sectoriales o sobre riesgos laborales específicos;
establecer organismos nacionales sobre salud y seguridad agrupando a representantes de sindicatos y patronal;
requerir servicios de salud laboral para todos y acordar la debida compensación, incluyendo el reconocimiento de la COVID-19 como enfermedad laboral.
As the 344th Session of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) commences on 14 March 2022, global unions are calling for an amendment to the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work that will lead to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) being considered a fundamental principle and right at work.
The amendment would see OHS joining the four fundamental principles and rights at work that the Declaration currently recognizes: freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively; the prohibition of forced labour; prohibition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in employment.
The Governing Body meets three times a year, in March, June and November. It takes decisions on ILO policy, decides the agenda of the International Labour Conference, adopts the draft programme and budget of the organization for submission to the conference, and elects the Director-General.
The call by global unions’ is consistent with the 2019 ILO Centenary Declaration on the future of work and a global campaign for OHS to be added to the fundamental principles and rights at work. In June 2019, UN experts urged the ILO to immediately recognize and adopt safe and healthy working conditions as one of its fundamental principles and rights at work. A follow-up to the resolution on the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work called for proposals, including safe and healthy working conditions, to be added to the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work.
According to the first joint WHO/ILO monitoring report, released on 27 September 2021, at least 1.9 million workers lose their lives every year due to the work-related diseases and injuries. However, when adding causes of death by risk factors not included and filling in information gaps from poor record-keeping, the number is closer to a staggering three million deaths.
“Health and safety at work is neither a perk to be bargained for nor a favour to be asked. It is our right,” said IndustriALL mining director and OHS lead, Glen Mpufane.
“No wage is worth our health or our life, and no remedy can be granted by an arbitrator that will restore our health or our life, once it is lost.”
At the November 2021 meeting of the ILO Governing Body, global unions finally secured agreement that the agenda for the 2022 International Labour Conference would include an amendment to the ILO 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work to achieve this.
On the back of this achievement, and to maintain the momentum and ensure that the ILO Governing Body takes the decisions workers need on OHS, IndustriALL Global Union calls on its over 50 million members and affiliates to amplify the call by the ITUC to call on governments and employers:
To designate Convention 155 on OHS as a fundamental right at work, as it is the main convention setting out what governments need to do.
To designate ILO Convention 161 on Occupational Health Services a complimentary fundamental right at work. ILO Convention 161 on Occupational Health Services requires governments to ensure that workers have access to an occupational health service, either in their workplace or through the public health system.
To allow the broadest interpretation of health and safety, urge Governments to support the term “working environment” as reference in the fundamental principle and right at work.
To ensure that should be no international competition over OHS standards in trade agreements.
“The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights include a duty and responsibility to protect the health and safety of workers. With the United Nations’ resolution recognizing access to a healthy and sustainable environment as a universal right, another historic moment awaits the Governing Body to make the correct decision,” said IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Kan Matsuzaki.
AFLO-CIO is gearing up for International Workers’ Memorial Day with a comprehensive suite of resources including briefings, information, posters, stickers, graphics and events listings available in English and Spanish. The details below are from Safety and Health Director Rebecca L. Reindel.
Flyer [English]Flyer [español]
Colleagues,
Workers Memorial Day, April 28, is just around the corner. This year, the labor movement will commemorate those we have lost on the job and will organize to make the fundamental right of a safe job a reality for all workers. This year’s theme is “Organize! Safe Jobs Now.” Attached are AFL-CIO President Shuler’s letter, launching Workers Memorial Day planning this year and English and Spanish versions of this year’s flier.
Please join us this April 28 to honor the victims of workplace injury and illness and the call to organize for safe jobs for all workers. As we do every year, trade unionists around the country and globe will organize our communities and workplaces to observe Workers Memorial Day.
We will highlight the toll of job injuries and deaths; demand that elected officials put workers’ well-being above corporate interests; and demand safe jobs for all. This year, and every year, the labor movement will defend the right of every worker to a safe job and build collective power to make that right a reality.
Please use the resources below when planning for this year’s Workers Memorial Day and reach out to us with any questions, concerns, comments along the way.
Materials and Artwork:
Please scroll down our Workers Memorial Day home page to view and download this year’s materials and artwork: aflcio.org/workersmemorialday. These include posters, stickers, and fliers in English and Spanish. Stickers are available for “Organize! Safe Jobs Now” and for “Mourn for the Dead. Fight for the Living.”
We want to hear about your Workers Memorial Day plans! Please share your event with us so that we can include it on our map of events across the country.
Plan events, actions, activities and observances with suggestions in our flier. If gathering in person, especially indoors, please follow CDC’s guidelines on organizing large events and gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Toolkit Coming Soon: Soon, we will be distributing more materials to help you plan your commemorations and advocacy efforts. These include talking points, sample materials for media outreach, worker safety and health facts, state-by-state safety and health data, fact sheets, digital resources, infographics and other information.
How to reach out to us about Workers Memorial Day: oshmail@aflcio.org or 202-637-5341
Hashtags you can use to build solidarity online around Workers Memorial Day: #IWMD2022 #WorkersMemorialDay #1uSafety
Rebecca L. Reindel, MS, MPH (she/her)
Safety and Health Director, AFL-CIO
815 Black Lives Matter Plaza, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
Workers’ unions worldwide are pressing their demand for health and safety to finally become a globally recognised fundamental principle and right at work. “We demand that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopts occupational health and safety as a fundamental right at work.” said ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow, adding: “It’s as important as freedom of association and the elimination of forced labour, child labour and discrimination in employment.”
