Category Archives: 2023

Gibraltar: Organising for health and safety – a crucial part of union action

Unite the union – Gibraltar

 

Worker’s Memorial Day commemorates, the hardship and loss that previous generations of workers have endured to make our workplaces a safer environment.

This year’s rallies to the call of “Organising for Health and Safety – a crucial part of union action”.

In many ways, workplace health and safety is no different from other issues that unions fight for, like better wages, benefits and respect. In fact, the ultimate measure of dignity and respect on the job is the degree to which workers are provided with a safe and healthy working environment.

It has been proved, that the most effective tool that we have in ensuring good health and safety at work is trade unions, because organised workplaces are safer workplaces. Unite the Union stands by its commitment to ensuring that its members’ right to a healthy and safe working environment are respected, to such effect Unite Gibraltar has through the years trained over 200 reps in Health and Safety.

Trained and experienced safety reps make a difference in the day to day occupational health and safety by: –

• Helping reduce injuries at work.
• Reducing the levels of ill-health caused by workplace exposure.
• Encourages reporting of safety concerns, injuries and near-misses.
• Making workers more confident that the safety concerns will be addressed.
• Helps develop a more positive safety culture within the organisation.
• Saves the economy many millions of pounds, from the direct and indirect cost of accidents and occupational ill-health.

Unite the Union will be this year campaigning for our Health and Safety laws to be policed and enforced throughout the ever growing private sector, in particular within the construction industry as the highest risk sector. Unite urges Government to support this campaign for the development of Health and Safety Reps within the Private Sector at large.

Unite will continue to make a call on this day and campaign towards:

• Health and Safety representatives to be recognised by employers.
• For employers to comply with law, ensured by strict Government enforcement and development of strong laws.
• Adequate Health and Safety workplace policies and for these to be respected.
• A Gibraltar Government Health and Safety organised structure, able to provide both guidance to industry/commerce as well as strict enforcement of our Health and safety laws where necessary.
• Appropriate welfare and rest facilities within the workplace.

Some advancement have been made since last year’s Workers Memorial Day, via the Health and Safety Advisory Council, namely the introduction of HM Government of Gibraltar’s Health and Safety Policy Part A – “A Managers Guide for Government Department” and Part B – “Organisation and Arrangements”. Having said this, we must reiterate the importance of the implementation of the contents of the policies, ensuring they become an occupational day to day reality.
Unite reminds the Gibraltar working community that all employees have rights which include: –

• To work in places where all the risks to your health and safety are properly controlled.
• Stop working and leave the area if you think you are in danger.
• Be consulted on matters related to your health and safety at work and be party to meaningful participation on the development of safety controls and risk reduction measures.
•Inform your employer about health and safety issues or concerns, through your Safety Representative or Union Rep.
•​To be able to contact local Health and Safety Inspectorate and/or your union where you still have health and safety concerns, without getting into trouble with your employer.

In the memory of our forefathers we need to reinforce and honour their struggle to maintain and enhance workers right to a safe and healthy workplace.

Let’s us honour the dead and fight for the living.

Arab Trade Union Confederation statement for 28 April

President of the Arab Trade Union Confederation, Shaher Sa’ed: “Occupational safety and health at work represents one of the most fundamental rights of workers”

Acting Executive Secretary of the Arab Trade Union Confederation, Hind Benammar: “Implementing national policies of occupational safety and health at work becomes an emergency”

The Arab region celebrates the World Day for Safety and Health at Work [International Workers’ Memorial Day]. This occasion, always, reveals alarming indicators. More than two million male and female workers annually lose their lives and more than 400,000 workers are exposed to injuries due to work accidents, that take place in light of the economic repercussions that represent nearly 4% of the global GDP.

In this regard, Shaher Sa’ed, President of the Arab Trade Union Confederation (ATUC), stated that “it is no longer acceptable to continue lightly dealing with the issue of occupational safety and health, that represent one of the most fundamental rights of workers. The concerned parties, ministries of labour, ministries of health, employers and representatives of workers should review occupational safety and health policies within the framework of a social dialogue in accordance with the international labour conventions on occupational safety and health, mainly Conventions 155, 161, and 187.”

In general, the Arab region witnesses many lacunas in the legislations and regulation of occupational safety and health systems.

In this regard, Hind Benammar, the acting executive secretary, mentioned that “although the issue of occupational safety and health is a concern among all social partners, it is required that this consensus be articulated in national legislation and policies based on the inclusion of occupational safety and health in the curricula of education and trainings, reviewing labour inspection systems in both quantity and quality, and funding health and safety programmes.”

As for the lacunas of Arab ratification of international labour agreements related to occupational safety and health, the acting executive secretary stated that “only Algeria and Bahrain have ratified Convention No. 155. Iraq, Morocco, and Tunisia have ratified Convention No. 187. However, no Arab country has ratified Convention No. 161, on the importance of the government’s engagement with occupational safety and health. On our part, as trade unions, we made all the necessary efforts to secure all safety measures for our workers in all our negotiations. Our aim is to encourage all Arab countries to ratify these agreements and implement national policies respecting occupational health and safety agreements.”

Global: ITUC-Asia Pacific infographics for 28 April

No more killings: Fight together for occupational health and safety, a fundamental right

Global: No more killings – Fight together for occupational health and safety, a fundamental right

Statement – 27 Apr 2023 – DOWNLOAD

On the occasion of the International Workers Memorial Day, the ITUC-Asia Pacific, on behalf of its 60 million effective members from 34 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific, remembers workers who have lost their lives, been injured or sick as a result of their work-related accidents and illnesses.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a fundamental right, and all industrial accidents and illnesses are preventable. Therefore, industrial accidents and diseases are against humanity and social justice. We should stop more killings on the job.

The 187 ILO member states – their governments, employers and workers, assure it at the 110th International Labour Conference in June 2022 by adopting the resolution to include a safe and healthy working environment in the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and right at work.

The United Nations also adopted the resolution (A/76/L.75) of the UN General Assembly to recognise the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environments as a human right in July 2022.

Despite these renewed international commitments, however, a safe and healthy working environment free from industrial accidents and diseases is far from reality. The pandemic-led global health and economy crisis, indisputable evidence of deficiency in OHS across the globe, has put more people into dangerous and poor working conditions as well as discrimination and harassments.

In this regard, as proven by many studies, the strong trade unionism can save lives. The most effective labour market institution to realise a safe and healthy working environment is to make all workers to join or form their trade unions to protect themselves from industrial accidents and diseases. Hence, the ITUC-Asia Pacific continues its struggles to build workers’ power by organising.

Furthermore, considering the fact that among 36 ILO Member countries in Asia and the Pacific, only 9 countries and 8 countries ratified the ILO Fundamental Convention on Occupational Safety and Health (1981, No. 155), and on Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health (2006, No. 187) respectively, the ITUC-Asia Pacific strongly urge all the governments in the region to ratify and implement these Conventions without delay, starting from a national tripartite dialogue to discuss, formulate, implement, monitor and review a national OHS policy with adequate labour inspection as well as heavy publishment for industrial accidents and diseases to ensure a healthy and safe working environment at all levels.

The ITUC-Asia Pacific also solidly demands international organisations, including the inter-governmental organisations and the international as well as regional financial institutions, to work together for coordinated policies and actions to ensure OHS governance in their decisions and projects throughout global supply chains, as well as to improve national capacity on OHS with social dialogue being promoted. We must recognise that OHS is an integral part of sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery as well.

The ITUC-Asia Pacific, in strong solidarity with all its affiliates, reaffirms its relentless struggles on every frontline for OHS for all workers.

https://www.ituc-ap.org/resources/no-more-killings-fight-together-for-occupational-health-and-safety-a-fundamental-right

Britain: Hazards Campaign reveals the tragic price of work hazards

Press Release for International Workers Memorial Day to remember people killed by work

For immediate release

On International Workers Memorial Day, Friday 28th April,  workers globally will hold workplace and community events to remember work colleagues, who have died because of their work.  Every year the Hazards Campaign produce ‘The Whole Story’ (1) which is an analysis of the occupational injuries, illness and deaths statistics.

In the last 12 months alone, it is estimated by the Hazards Campaign, that more than 53,000 people died because of work and this number doesn’t include the hundreds of workers who have died because of Covid infections they contracted in the workplace, because there is no obligation for employers to report them to the enforcement agency, or for them to be investigated or employers to be prosecuted.(1) and they not recorded.

The Hazards Campaign includes an estimate of the number of workers who have died from work-related suicide, which is estimated to be as high as 10% of all suicides. (2)  Again, the employer is under no legal duty to report, or investigate these deaths and this estimate is based on numbers recorded in other countries where suicides are reportable.  The Hazards Campaign believes there is a moral obligation to do this, and are campaigning for there to be a legal obligation for work-related suicides to be reportable, investigated and employers prosecuted if they are negligent.(3)

UK Hazards Campaign spokesperson Janet Newsham, said it’s shocking that worldwide, work kills a minimum of 2.9 million people every year.

She said: “Last year safe and healthy work was adopted as a fundamental right by the ILO.  This means that occupational health and safety must be central to all work.  This should also mean that our Government, employers and enforcement authorities must double their efforts to eradicate unsafe and unhealthy work activities.  It should be no longer acceptable that work drives people to take their own life, or that workers are subjected to air pollution and other airborne viruses, toxic chemicals and hazardous substances, that will eventually kill them. It should mean that these are not an optional extra but are fundamental to safe and healthy work.’

‘No-one should lose their life for just going out to work to earn a living. Too many people die because of their work activities.  On International Workers Memorial Day we will remember all those who have died because of work, we will wear purple ribbons in their memory, we will tell their stories(2), and try to hold those responsible for their deaths are held to account.  We don’t want to hear about lessons learnt, that means that someone else has died.  We need all work to be safe and healthy, preventing deaths, diseases and injuries and on April 28th we will ‘Remember the dead and Fight for the Living!’’

Note to editors:

More details on the theme can be found here:

  1. The whole story: https://sway.office.com/0SEVenHS9yTFFJqs?ref=Link
  2. Families against corporate killers 2023 statement: https://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/blog/uk-fack-statement-international-workers-memorial-day-28-april-2023
  3. Suicide:
  4. Further information:

For more details please contact Janet Newsham on 07734 317158.

Australia: International Workers Memorial Day 2023 – Victoria event – VTHC

April 28, 2023 • 10:30am – 11:30am

International Workers Memorial Day 2023

Healthy and safe workplaces are a fundamental right.

Every year, Victorian Trades Hall Council hosts a memorial service to remember those Victorians who lost their lives at work.

Please join us on the 28th of April for International Workers Memorial Day 2023 to commemorate the workers we’ve lost in the past year.

The ceremony will include a minute’s silence at 11am and an opportunity to lay wreaths.

The event will be live-streamed through the Victorian Trades Hall Council Facebook page, but all are encouraged to attend the ceremony at Argyle square in Carlton.

Remember the dead, fight like hell for the living.

More details here

Kyrgyzstan: Construction industry meeting held by KTUBC

28 April in Kyrgyzstan will see BWI affiliate union KTUBC organise a joint safety meeting for construction industry workers.

Azerbaijan: Forestry workers organise on 28 April

International Workers’ Memorial Day will be marked in Azerbaijan by  the BWI affiliate TSEI HIRK which is organising an occupational health and safety workshop for forestry workers.

Kazakhstan: STUWBCHCRK to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day

BWI affiliate in Kazakhstan. STUWBCHCRK, is organising a set of five union meetings with workshops, videos an safety quizzes  dedicated to marking 28 April.

Global: Watch Q&A with Manal Azzi – Implementing the fundamental right to a safe and healthy working environment

In June 2022, the International Labour Conference included “a safe and healthy working environment” as a fundamental principle and right at work.  Continue reading Global: Watch Q&A with Manal Azzi – Implementing the fundamental right to a safe and healthy working environment