Category Archives: Resources

Global: Union organisation is a life or death issue

No-one should die to make a living. After all, occupational health and safety is now a globally-binding ILO fundamental legal right at work.

But a new report warns bad jobs still kill someone somewhere every six seconds, every day, round the clock. It notes that last year the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) recognised occupational health and safety as a top rated ‘fundamental’ right at work.

“Politically, it’s a game changer,” it notes. “Practically, workers have continued to die, an estimated 3 million in the last year alone.”

The report, published in the union-backed Hazards magazine ahead of International Workers’ Memorial Day, argues union organising can make the difference. “Whether you describe it as the ‘union dividend’, ‘union advantage’ or ‘union effect’, there is a long-established, well-tested proof of the life-saving impact of union organisation at work. It shows walking out or being walked all over can be a life or death decision.”

Organising for occupational health and safety is the theme this year for the 28 April event.

Full story: Everyday heroes: The lifesaving union effect. Hazards, number 161, 2023.

USA: AFL-CIO 28 April toolkit available: Organize! Safe Jobs Now.

   

AFL-CIO, the US national union federation, says its Workers’ Memorial Day toolkit is now available! You can find state by state safety and health facts, talking points, sample event advisories and press releases and some informational fliers on occupational heat exposure and workplace violence in HC/SS. Please feel free to send us feedback on how you’re using it and what else would be helpful in future years. Direct link is here.

aflcio.org/workersmemorialday.

Global: BWI Call to Action: 2023 International Workers’ Memorial Day

International Workers’ Memorial Day 2023 is annually observed on April 28. This year, BWI will highlight ways to put the right to safe and healthy workplaces into practice through the theme “MAKE IT HAPPEN.” This is an effort to celebrate and raise awareness on occupational health and safety (OHS) as a basic right.

Trade unions worldwide will carry out joint activities with employers and/or organise rallies to promote the implementation of OHS as a fundamental worker right. Activities will take place the whole week covering 24-30 April.

On 10 June 2022, the International Labour Conference (ILC) adopted a resolution to add the principle of a safe and healthy working environment to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. With this groundbreaking development, Occupational Health and Safety is now secured as ILO’s fifth Fundamental Principle and Right at Work.

 

 

 

However, the time for celebration is over; we now shift our campaign to its full implementation. All workers worldwide must become conscious of this landmark agreement, and together, we will call on every government and employer to deliver a healthy and safe work environment.

445 joint declarations covering 480,000 workplaces and 18 million workers worldwide were signed by trade unions and employers calling for the recognition of OHS as a fundamental right leading to its adoption before the ILO. We will now go back to each and every employer who signed the joint OHS declarations and ask them to implement OHS as a right and MAKE IT HAPPEN. We do this by:

  1. Holding joint safety and health trainings at worksites.
  2. Conduct joint safety and health worksite visits/inspections.
  3. Hold candlelight activities and other commemorative events to honour all workers who lost their lives and/or were injured in the performance of their work.

For affiliates with uncooperative employers, we call on them to hold mass rallies and demonstrations in front of companies to protest their unsafe working conditions and poor safety records.

BWI regional offices will assist affiliates in carrying out one or more of joint activities with employer signatories, document their activities and distribute knowledge material and information posters.

Please share your plans with your respective regional coordinators.

We will include them on our dedicated website www.28april.org where various materials, activities and events are shared.

During BWI’s Week of Action, document your activities by:

  1. Taking photos and videos of your activities. Please dowload and promote our campaign posters online and offline.
  2. Issuing press releases and other media publications.
  3. Spreading our activities through social media using the hashtag:  #IWMD2023

Lastly, share all your content with your respective regional BWI communication teams.

 

 

Global: CSI 28 de abril Infografías y recursos de redes sociales

La CSI ha publicado una gran cantidad de infografías y recursos de redes sociales en español para su uso en la promoción del 28 de abril. Puede ver ejemplos más abajo en esta página y el conjunto completo aquí.

Spanish Infographics

International Workers Memorial Day #IWMD23

Global: CSI 28 avril – Infographies et ressources sur les médias sociaux

La CSI a publié un large éventail d’infographies et de ressources sur les médias sociaux en français à utiliser pour promouvoir le 28 avril. Vous pouvez voir des exemples plus bas sur cette page et l’ensemble complet ici.

French Infographics

International Workers Memorial Day #IWMD23

Global: ITUC 28 April Infographics and social media resources

ITUC has published a large set of Infographics and social media resources in English for use in promoting 28 April. You can view examples further down this page and the complete set here.

English Infographics

International Workers Memorial Day #IWMD23

28 April: España Campaña USO 28 de abril “La incapacidad es temporal; tus derechos, no”

Te adjunto la campaña que hemos elaborado desde USO, con motivo del Día Internacional de la Seguridad y la Salud en el Trabajo, que este año lleva como lema “La incapacidad es temporal; tus derechos,no”.

La campaña consta de cartel, manifiesto y díptico en formato preguntas frecuentes.

Esta campaña surge a partir de las novedades en IT y también como respuesta al resurgir de los informes sobre absentismo y el cuestionamiento del derecho al tiempo de recuperación tras un accidente o enfermedad.

Recibe un cordial saludo.

USA: AFL-CIO – Workers Memorial Day 2023 – Organize! Safe Jobs Now

   

AFL-CIO’s Workers Memorial Day web page is  live! – and available for you to order materials and download artwork to use for your events, trainings, conferences, newsletters, and more. aflcio.org/WorkersMemorialDay

Each year since 1989, we commemorate this day to honor those we have lost on the job and we 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.” focusing on dignity at work, the growth of the labor movement and equity through safe workplaces.

Please join us this April 28 to honor the victims of workplace injury and illness and the call to organize 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.

We can’t do this alone, and together, we need to organize all workers in this fight for safer working conditions. We are building campaigns leading up to the end of April and throughout the year to mourn and fight.

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 visit this page to view and download this year’s materials and artwork. 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.”

Please place your order for materials here. You can either pick up materials in person at our Washington DC headquarters or have them shipped to you.

Workers Memorial Day Events:

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.

Toolkit Coming Soon:

We are working expediently to distribute 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 more.

How to reach out to us about Workers Memorial Day:

oshmail@aflcio.org or 202-637-5047

Hashtags you can use to build solidarity online around Workers Memorial Day: 

#iwmd2023 #WorkersMemorialDay #1uSafety

Please note: Our annual report, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, will be published at the end of April. You can place orders now for a hard copy of the report, and it will be shipped later. It will also be available electronically.

Come organize with us!

aflcio.org/workersmemorialday

UK: Organising 101- Hazards magazine

Read the Organising 101 column by trade union activist, tutor and anti-blacklisting campaigner Dave Smith.

1. Using flower power at work
2. A walk in the park
3. If you want to win, you better listen
4. Blocking roads and turning a corner
5. Getting bugged by hot desking
6. Something for the weekend

7. Find a friend
8. Just ask what workers want
9. You gotta fight for your right to safety
10. Imagine you’re a tree
11. How to stress test your workplace
12. Unreasonable behaviour
13. Check your make up
14. Pilot study
15. All together now
16. Bright sparks
17. Corporate capture
18. No accident
19. Get back to the classroom
20. No accident [Part 2]

 

UK: 28 April organising resources from TUC and Hazards magazine

Health and Safety and Organising – A guide for reps, TUC and related interactive guide for union reps (you may need to register to access this resource).

 

Organising for OHS, Hazards website.