All posts by Jawad

2022, 2022 Europe, 2022 UK, Events listing, News

Britain: No-one is coming to save you

Since the Conservatives came to power in the UK, the number of workers harmed by their jobs each year has increased by 30 per cent, but convictions for criminal safety offences have fallen by 75 per cent.

Preventive Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspections are down by over two-thirds. Fines are in freefall. The trade union-backed safety journal Hazards says this is no accident, it a policy of deliberate and sustained criminal neglect. It warns no UK government has ever cared less.

The report notes unions have always fought for the lives as well as the livelihoods of working people, concluding: “On 28 April – International Workers’ Memorial Day – it has never been more important to make a stand.”

Check out the damning new analysis from Hazards of soaring work-related ill-health and collapsing enforcement in the UK.

2022, 2022 Global, Events listing, News

Global: Dying to work must end now!

Work is killing 3 million workers worldwide each year, The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has warned. But Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the global union body said dying to work must end now, and health and safety must be recognised as a fundamental right for all workers.

“This year, occupational health and safety (OHS) must join freedom from forced and child labour, from discrimination at work, and freedom to join a trade union and bargain collectively as International Labour Organisation (ILO) fundamental rights at work,” she said.

“There must be no more opposition from callously indifferent employers, or recalcitrant governments. Our right to go to work and come back at the end of the day just as fit and well as we started it must be baked in.”

The March 2022 meeting of ILO’s Governing Body agreed recognition of OHS will be on the agenda for a final decision at the UN agency’s International Labour Conference in June 2022.

Burrow said unions already have an action plan for fundamental safety. “We want unions to be able to establish joint health and safety committees in every workplace, and worker safety representatives covering not just big workplaces but individual and self-employed workers through initiatives like roving safety reps,” she said.

“We have been laying plans with national trade union centres and sectoral Global Union Federations to celebrate the adoption of OHS as a fundamental right with a new organising drive across every sector on every continent.”

She said International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April 2022 would be the next focus of the campaign, concluding: “Workers must have the right to refuse unsafe work, and to take part in the decisions about prevention at their workplace. They need unions to make sure those rights become reality, and – this International Workers’ Memorial Day above all others – they need you to make it all happen. If not now, then when?”

Sharan Burrow. Deadline!, Hazards magazine, number 157, 2022. ITUC International Workers’ Memorial Day news and resources webpage.

2022, 2022 Global, Events listing, graphics, News, Resources

Global: 28 April social media graphics and image resources from ITUC

ITUC has published a package of Twitter and Facebook ready  images and infographic resources for 28 April – available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Follow the links below to the language specific Trello boards

English Infographics
Spanish Infographics
Portuguese Infographics
French infographics

International Worker’s Memorial Day – #IWMD22


IWM22_ES. TW-3.png

IWM22_EN. TW-2.png

IWMD22_PT. IG-1.png

IWMD22_FR. IG-2.png

2022, 2022 England, 2022 Europe, 2022 Scotland, 2022 UK, 2022 Wales, Events listing, News

Britain: Just two weeks to Workers’ Memorial Day

With just two weeks to go until International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April, the TUC is urging unions and safety activists to get their plans in place for the biggest event ever. It says there are two reasons for making an extra effort this year – Covid has exposed how worker safety is being disregarded and the union movement globally is on the verge of winning recognition of occupational health and safety as an International Labour Organisation (ILO) fundamental right at work.

TUC 28 April resources and events webpages. Get your 28 April event on the map!
STUC listing of 28 April events in Scotland.
Find out what is happening worldwide.
Check out the damning new analysis from Hazards of soaring work-related ill-health and collapsing enforcement in the UK.

2022, 2022 North America, 2022 USA, Events listing, Resources

USA: The AFL-CIO’s Workers Memorial Day toolkit is out

The AFL-CIO’s Workers Memorial Day toolkit is out:

Here, you can find talking points, sample press materials, and national and state by state data to use when planning your WMD events/commemorations. Materials are available in English and Spanish.

 

Guides, News, Resources

Deadline: International Workers’ Memorial Day – dying to work must end now!

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!

Three years ago this June, the International Labour Conference – the only global tripartite institution, with equal numbers of union, employer and government delegates – agreed that occupational health and safety should become a fundamental principle and right at work. This summer, that same International Labour Conference must finally make that a reality.

That’s the call we will be making this International Workers’ Memorial Day, on 28 April, when we mourn the dead but commit ourselves to fight like hell for the living.

Read the full story in Hazards magazine

2022, 2022 Asia-Pacific, 2022 Australia, Events listing, News

Australia: RSVP for International Workers’ Memorial Day, Melbourne, 2022

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.

RSVP Here

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.

We hope to see you there.

Reece Gittins – We Are Union: OHS Reps
http://www.weareunion.org.au/

2022, 2022 North America, 2022 USA, Events listing, graphics, Guides, Resources

USA: Workers’ Memorial Week resources from National COSH

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.

Here is the National COSH 2022 WMW Toolkit, which includes:

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

2022, 2022 Global, 2022 Switzerland, Events listing, News

Global: Act together to build a positive safety and health culture – virtual discussion

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 

Vamos agir em conjunto para construir uma cultura positiva de segurança e saúde no trabalho português 
македонски  * Українська  * 中文 

When: 28 April 2022
Where: ILO HQ – Geneva
Contact: SafeDay Team (safeday@ilo.org)

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.

Click here to register for the global webinar 

Further information

Event

High-level virtual discussion on acting together to build a positive safety and health culture 

ILO 28 April webpage.

2022, 2022 Global, Events listing, graphics, News

Global: RECONNAÎTRE LA SANTÉ ET LA SÉCURITÉ AU TRAVAIL COMME UN DROIT FONDAMENTAL À L’OCCASION DE LA JOURNÉE INTERNATIONALE DE COMMÉMORATION DES TRAVAILLEUSES ET DES TRAVAILLEURS

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.