Category Archives: News

Australia: ACTU shareables and pointers on 28 April events

International Workers’ Memorial Day takes place annually around the world on April 28 – it is an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work.

Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, Trades and Labour Councils (TLCs) around Australia will be holding their events online this year.

You can find details of the various TLC events here.

The ACTU has also prepared some shareables that all are welcome to use.

Australian Council of Trade Unions
Level 4/365 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000
t (03) 9664-7340 f (03) 9600-0050
e jholden@actu.org.au w actu.org.au
w australianunions.org.au
Facebook /AustralianUnions
Twitter @UnionsAustralia
Instagram @AusUnions

 

Europe: On 28 April ETUC remembers those who died from corona virus at work

ETUC has today shared 28 April materials for general use prepared by their communication department.

The aim is to make a solid connection between the current Covid 19 crisis and more general health and safety issues.

ETUC has provided the materials in formats for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (and also in editable formats so you can edit – add your logo and translate), a statement signed by ETUC and European sectoral trade union federations, and a list of short texts we will use with the visuals on social media.

ETUC will publish the statement and start posting on social media from Friday 24 April, with new posts every day until and including Tuesday 28 April.

You are encouraged to use the materials as you wish, to translate and adapt, and also to share/like ETUC posts . ETUC has full rights for photos so you can use them too. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #IWMD20, we are also using #CoronaVirus and #Covid19 .

ETUC webpages

 

Global: Stop the pandemic – Safety and health at work can save lives | ILO

Recognising the challenge that governments, employers, workers and whole societies are facing worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day – World Day for Safety and Health at Work – the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will focus on addressing the outbreak of infectious diseases at work, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.

The day will focus on addressing the outbreak of infectious diseases at work, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to stimulate national tripartite dialogue on safety and health at work. The ILO is using this day to raise awareness on the adoption of safe practices in workplaces and the role that occupational safety and health (OSH) services play. It will also focus on the medium to long-term, including recovery and future preparedness, in particular, integrating measures into OSH management systems and policies at the national and enterprise levels. More

USA: AFL-CIO Workers Memorial Day Toolkit/Resources

OBSERVE WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY APRIL 28

OBSERVA EL DÍA CONMEMORATIVO DEL TRABAJADOR CAÍDO 28 DE ABRIL

The AFL-CIO has released two new resources to help workers, unions and others prepare for commemorating Workers Memorial Day, April 28 — on the day itself and the weeks before and following:

1) Our Workers Memorial Day toolkit now can be found at: http://aflcio.org/2020-wmd-toolkit. This includes talking points, information on WMD events and actions, the Trump administration’s record on COVID-19 and other S&H issues, COVID-19 facts, national and state level data and other S&H facts, a flyer on emergency infectious disease standards, sample OpEds, LTEs, advisories and event releases…

2) Digital graphics for sharing around Workers Memorial Day: go.aflcio.org/-2020-graphics

As a reminder, all of the WMD artwork and other materials for download can be found here: aflcio.org/workersmemorialday

And please encourage everyone to submit their WMD events and actions here: go.aflcio.org/wmd2020

Please continue to distribute these widely — to lift up worker safety protections against COVID-19 and other safety hazards this year as we mourn for the dead, fight for the living.

Bangladesh: Remembering the Rana Plaza workers by continuing the fight for workers’ rights during the pandemic

PRESS RELEASE – Clean Clothes Campaign info@cleanclothes.org

Seven years ago, on 24 April 2013, at least 1,134 workers died in the garment industry’s deadliest factory incident in history. While we commemorate this crisis, workers’ lives are again at risk. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis sweeping through the garment industry and across the world is undermining the ongoing worker struggles for social protection, living wages, freedom to organise, and safe factories in Bangladesh.

COVID-19 pandemic threatens hard fought labour achievements since Rana Plaza.  

See the detailed statement with quotes from worker representatives and Clean Clothes Campaign live-blog giving updates on how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting garment workers.

Clean Clothes Campaign website.

USA: This Sunday 26 April Workers’ Memorial Day Virtual March

The New Jersey Work Environment Council (WEC) is holding a Virtual March for Workers’ Memorial Day on Sunday 26 April. Read their invite below:

Please Join Us  Sunday @ 1pm (US east coast) for a Virtual March for Workers’ Memorial Day 

RSVP HERE 

In this time of COVID-19, please spend an hour with us for a virtual  Workers’ Memorial Day march to honor workers who have fallen ill or died from this deadly virus. This is a time to thank and honor essential workers’ who put their health and lives on the line every day when they leave the safety of their homes to go to work. From nurses and emergency responders to transit workers, grocery store clerks, warehouse workers and more. All workers are at risk!

Workers’ Memorial Day is a day to honor all workers who have suffered an occupational illness or disease or have suffered a workplace fatality. The sad truth is, most workplace deaths are preventable. As a society, we must put more of an emphasis on worker health and safety and an end to the injustice and the damage corporate greed causes working families.

On average, a worker dies every 100 minutes in the United States. Every 100 minutes a family is ripped apart. This must end.

Please join us to mourn those we lost, honor those who continue to work during the pandemic and fight like hell for change. You can do all of this from the comfort of your living room.

NJ Work Environment Council

172 West State Street, 2nd Floor
Trenton, NJ 08608, USA.
phone: 609/882-6100
website: www.njwec.org

28 April activities in Philippines will remember health workers killed by Covid 19

Image may contain: text

Save the Date! IOHSAD Philippines will mark this year’s Workers’ Memorial Day by remembering all the doctors and health workers who have died saving the lives of others. They will also call for the protection, safety and health of all the frontliners who continue to report to work despite the threat of COVID-19.

Join them in their Workers’ Memorial Day activities. Come together on April 28 and fight for mass testing and protection to our health workers and frontline workers.

Facebook post

#IWMD20 #ProtectFrontliners #ProtectHealthWorkers #MassTestingNowPh

USA: Massachusetts Worker Memorial Day Commemoration

MassCOSH, the MA AFL-CIO, the Greater Boston Labor Council, Jobs with Justice, and Community Labor United are hosting a Virtual Workers’ Memorial Day Commemoration on April 28 at 12pm.

The bilingual event (Spanish and English) will include a special tribute to our frontline and essential workers who continue to risk their lives in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, including five essential workers who  passed away from Covid-19 and were likely exposed to the virus on the job. Our event will close with a call to action for stronger workplace health and safety protections so that one day we will no longer need to hold this event.

The event will be broadcast via Facebook Live from the MassCOSH Facebook page. To be notified when the livestream begins, please RSVP on Facebook. And please invite your friends, families, coworkers and comrades to join with workers across the world in honoring all who needlessly died on the job.

Resource: Covid-19 Tool Kit for Essential Workers: Health and Safety Protections and How to Make them Happen

English: https://bit.ly/workertoolkitCOVID19

Spanish: https://bit.ly/derecholaboralCOVID19

Worker Memorial Day is April 28thRSVP here!

 

USA: Protecting black workers in the time of Covid-19

To remember and raise just demands for workplace safety and health and freedom from all forms of discrimination, the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights invites you to attend their Webinar: Dark Work—Devalued and Unprotected: Protecting Black Workers in the Time of Covid-19, Wednesday April 29th 6pm CST/7pm EST.  Read their message below.

Dear Friends, Partners and Allies:

For the past 20 years, on or around April 28th (Workers’ Memorial Day), the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights, has held its Annual Workers’ Memorial Day Rally (WMD) to honor Workers who lost their lives, while trying to make a living. As Black “essential”  Workers continue to die at beyond alarming, disproportionate rates in the time of Covid-19, during this year’s memorials we must remember them and in their names, we must fight harder for all those forced to risk their lives to feed and house their families.   To remember and raise just demands for workplace safety and health and freedom from all forms of discrimination, we invite you to attend our Webinar: Dark Work—Devalued and Unprotected: Protecting Black Workers in the Time of Covid-19, Wednesday April 29th 6pm CST/7pm EST.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Our program is part of a weeklong series of WMD events. Hear the stories of Black Workers, who are forced to work in life-threatening conditions with little or no protection. Hear from advocates and organizers who are standing in solidarity with them and their families.

Support WMD Week, April 25-May 2, 2020

I have attached two promotional flyers to this email (Flyer 1 and Flyer 2)

“No one should have to die to make a living”

Participating Organizations:

Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights
Resist the Rona
National Employment Law Project
Concerned Citizens for Justice
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
LA Black Worker Center
Southern Human Rights Organizers’  Conference (SHROC)
Stand With Dignity of the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice

Stand Up KC

Featuring stories from the frontlines!

Europe: ETUI coronavirus podcasts – voices on the world of work

New perspectives, debates and conversations about ongoing research and education on social Europe, worker participation, health and safety, the wider labour movement and the world of work.