In Zimbabwe, the BWI-affiliated ZCATWU is stepping up! Ahead of International Workers’ Memorial Day, they gathered workers for an awareness programme on the dangers of deadly dust, while driving efforts to organise and recruit more members. Together, they are building a stronger, safer movement — because every worker’s life matters! #IWMD2025 #StopDeadlyDust
Standing strong for workers’ lives: BWI-affiliated PROFBUD joins this year’s International Workers’ Memorial Day, rallying behind the global campaign to end deadly dust in workplaces. Every worker deserves a safe and healthy job! #IWMD2025 #StopDeadlyDust
In occasione della giornata mondiale per la salute e sicurezza sul lavoro, i rappresentanti di Feneal, Filca, Fillea, le categorie che tutelano il settore delle costruzioni di Cgil, Cisl e Uil, si sono recati presso la sede dell’Inail a Piazzale Pastore, per deporre una corona di fiori davanti al monumento in memoria degli operai che persero la vita durante lo scavo del traforo di San Gottardo. Prima della deposizione i rappresentanti hanno avuto un incontro con il direttore generale Marcello Fiori, un momento di confronto per analizzare e valutare le misure per la prevenzione degli infortuni e le malattie professionali e anche riguardanti i nuovi rischi connessi alla rivoluzione digitale e alla riorganizzazione del mondo del lavoro.
“Quello di oggi è un appuntamento di grande importanza – sottolinea Marcello Fiori – che rende omaggio alle vittime sul lavoro e testimonia la imprescindibile necessità di un impegno comune tra le parti sociali e le Istituzioni nell’azione di contrasto alla tragedia degli infortuni sul lavoro e delle malattie professionali. Restano fortissime le parole pronunciate da Papa Francesco in occasione dell’udienza dedicata all’Inail: senza tutele e sicurezza per i lavoratori prevale nella società, la cultura dello “scarto”. Rimettere al centro la persona significa “vedere, avere compassione, farsi vicini, fasciare le ferite, farsi carico” e considerare tutti gli infortunati, persone e non numeri. Missione fondamentale dell’Istituto deve essere quella della prevenzione che richiede un accordo, un impegno corale e il pieno coinvolgimento di tutte le Istituzioni e le parti sociali, come il Presidente della Repubblica ci esorta energicamente a realizzare, per mettere in campo tutti gli strumenti necessari: norme tecniche aggiornate e puntuali, informazione e formazione dei lavoratori e dei responsabili per la sicurezza, incentivi e finanziamenti al sistema delle imprese per innovazione tecnologica e sistemi di gestione per la salute e la sicurezza, un efficace e diffuso sistema di controlli”.
“I numeri – dichiarano i segretari di FenealUil, Filca Cisl e Fillea Cgil– continuano ad essere preoccupanti, con 1.090 vittime nel 2024, 49 in più rispetto al 2023, di cui 156 nelle costruzioni, che si riconferma tra i settori più a rischio. Gli infortuni in più rispetto all’anno precedente sono stati 4.215, e 15.745 le denunce di malattie professionali. Anche oggi c’è stato un incidente mortale sul lavoro nella cava di marmo di Miseglia costato la vita ad un uomo di 59 anni.
In questa giornata così importante le nostre categorie, che combattono ogni giorno per contrastare le irregolarità, tutelare i lavoratori e cambiare la cultura sulla sicurezza sul lavoro, avviano una fase collaborativa con Inail, attraverso un tavolo permanente sulla prevenzione in materia di salute e sicurezza che ci auguriamo porterà alla sottoscrizione di un protocollo operativo, in grado di generare effetti concreti quanto prima”.
World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2025 – EEI Grand Middori Project
The ITUC is using this year’s International Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April, to call for urgent action to safeguard workers’ lives and rights in the age of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI).
AI is transforming the world of work at unprecedented speed. But behind the promise of innovation lies a darker reality: algorithmic management, constant surveillance, impossible productivity targets, and dangerous working conditions. Technology is being used not to improve working conditions and safety, but to exploit them — putting lives and health at risk.
“Too often artificial intelligence is being deployed not as a tool for progress but as a weapon against workers.”ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle
“From warehouses to hospitals, delivery bikes to data labs, workers are under pressure like never before. The deployment of new technologies must respect the norms of any other changes in the workplace: workers have a right be consulted and included. This basic, democratic, workplace right will ensure the use of AI is designed with safety, fairness and dignity at is core. Workers and their unions must have a seat at the table for the benefit of all.”
Deployment of new technologies, such as AI, without proper consultation with workers and their unions is already causing serious problems around the world:
The ITUC is calling for:
This 28 April, we remember the dead – and fight for the living. Technology should work for us, not against us.
The new ITUC report, ‘Artificial intelligence and digitalisation: A matter of life and death for workers’, identifies the physical and psychosocial harms at work when these technologies are introduced without consulting workers. Check out the campaign materials.
https://www.ituc-csi.org/International-Workers-Memorial-Day-2025
Unite members are being urged to get involved with this year’s International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD), with plans well underway for country wide commemoration events to “remember the dead and fight for the living” later this month.
The annual event is held around the world every year on April 28 as workers gather to reflect on fellow workers lost or injured while just doing their jobs.
This year Unite members are organising memorials around the country, and joining in many others and the union has produced lots of resources and guides to help branches get involved.
For 2025 the International TUC theme is “Occupational health and safety: A fundamental right at work” including an explicit additional focus on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitisation on occupational health and safety.
Events will be happening across the country. In London construction workers will gather at the Building Workers memorial at Tower Hill, in Somerset workers from Hinkley Point C will mark the day at a memorial in Bridgwaters’ Blake Gardens and in Glasgow workers will gather at the memorial in the People’s Palace.
The central Birmingham event will highlight the safety-critical factor behind Unite’s local bins dispute, and remember David Carpenter, a binman for Coventry City Council, who died after being crushed in a bin lorry in 2023.
There are also events at the Unite Memorial in Liverpool, Lincoln Square in Manchester and many many more.
Global partners that Unite works with also have themes for the day of remembrance, for example BWI will highlight its “Too Hot to Work” campaign around the dangers of heat stress, as well as launching its “Stop Deadly Dust” campaign.
On 28 April each year, International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) is a time to remember those who have died either because of a workplace accident, ill health or diseases as a result of work.
Why we ‘remember the dead and fight for the living’
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) annual statistics show on average that 135 workers are killed in work related accidents each year. They also estimate that there are around 13,000 deaths each year from occupational lung disease and cancer caused by past exposure at work to chemicals and dust (such as asbestos or silica).
However, safety campaigners estimate that the true figure for all work-related deaths is closer to 50,000 each year.
Although it is rare for a UNISON member to die in a workplace incident, unfortunately some do suffer serious injuries and work-related ill health, including musculoskeletal disorders, stress, anxiety and depression. This can significantly affect them, their family, friends and other work colleagues.
UNISON knows that the key to providing safe and healthy workplaces is effective risk management, eliminating or reducing the risk of harm and having safe systems of work, including training and access to protective equipment.
Additionally, UNISON health safety representatives play a vital role in keeping workplaces safe and healthy by working with employers and raising members’ concerns about working condition, as well as undertaking inspections of workplaces to check all steps are being taking to keep workers safe.
BWI affiliate FGBB’s final preparations of the General University for Building and Wood on the occasion of the International Occupational Health and Safety Day, which falls on April 28 every year.
On April 28 of each year, CUPE members across the country organize events to honour all workers who were killed or injured at work. This year, we mourn the loss of four members of our CUPE family:
We are pleased to provide materials for this important day, including the annual poster, workers’ statement, and checklist. Day of Mourning flags, pins, and t-shirts can be ordered online at cupe.ca/store. Please order your materials early to ensure we can fulfill your order.
Putting up the posters, lowering flags to half-mast, and reading the workers’ statement at Workers’ Day of Mourning ceremonies are ways to promote awareness of CUPE’s role in fighting for health and safety improvements in the workplace.We hope that on April 28, you will join us and other workers around the world in reaffirming our commitment to demanding healthier and safer workplaces. For additional information or copies of materials, please contact your national representative or the Health and Safety Branch at National Office.