Below is a message from Allt åt alla Göteborg. Further details are available on their Facebook event page and website
“Come and honor the workers who have been killed, injured and worn out by their jobs, on our commemoration of Workers Memorial Day. A day when we commemorate the comrades who would still be among us, if their work had been safe. No one should die because of their job, no one should get sick from work. For workplace democracy and against the capitalists’ love of profits – come to our rally on 28 April.
“Background
The construction workers who build the houses we live in, people should really be rewarded – get exploited in cold blood, die or become seriously injured. In other industries such as health care, many people work under unreasonable pressure, and suffer premature wear due to the workload. Over 51 958 work accidents in Sweden were reported in 2013, and 55 workers are killed on average at their job every year. Our managers believe that our work must be more efficient. We do not think so. Every person is who murdered or injured in the workplace, is a person too many.
“We shall fight against downsizing, streamlining, increased workload and reduced influence and for workplace democracy. In the end, it is we who work who know how the work should be managed. The answer is economic democracy. That is to say that we who work should decide over the work. Democracy must not stop when one enters the workplace, that is where it should be practiced. It is we who are working who are affected by decisions taken at the workplace, which is why should we have control.
“Burned out, spent, exhausted…
It is difficult for someone who is already burned out to respond to these injustices as passivity, anxiety, fear and depression are already a fact. This, together with the learned helplessness and individualism which bourgeois society schools us into can only be defeated by a united struggle with our colleagues. These “accidents” and deaths are in fact calculated risks that the employer is willing to take for increased profits and maintaining power. We refuse to accept this. Remember the dead – fight with the living!
“There are many things we can do in the fight for better conditions and greater influence. Start a working association with colleagues, publish a workplace newspaper, or start a Facebook page. Whether it takes place inside or outside a union: find out what applies and make your demands openly with the attitude that we workers are always right in workplace conflicts, as it is we who essentially are the workplace.
“No one should die, be injured or become ill because of their job
Democratize our workplaces Increase penalties for – and – the managers responsible for the deaths and illnesses in the workplace
For workers’ power and solidarity.”
