Get the picture? Global construction union federation BWI is leading the way on 28 April… check out their photo gallery…
Category Archives: Events listing
Georgia: Georgia Construction and Foresters Independent Trade Union commemorates workers killed on site.
Global union federation Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) affiliate Georgia Construction and Foresters Independent Trade Union commemorates workers killed on site.
Pakistan: ‘Workers’ health and safety should be ensured and legislation be done’
Unions in Pakistan held a press conference on 28 April, demanding better workplace safety standards and effective safety laws and enforcement, and issued this statement:
The trade unions’ movement demands that the safety of workers at workplaces – Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) – is their basic rights which the International Labor Organization in its civil declaration 2008 has accepted. It is also the responsibility of the state, employers and relevant authorities to ensure workers safety and they have failed in doing so. To make the socio-economic conditions better, it is necessary that the OSH is put among the top priorities and the federal government ratifying the ILO convention 176 do a legislation like the Sindh government did. Pakistan is one of those countries in the world where accidents at workplaces and workers losing lives and getting injuries in them are happening on a nearly daily basis and its prevention is nowhere is seen in the governments’ concerns. Unfortunately, there is no record of industrial accident s with the relevant authorities and because of this, it is intractable to determine how many workers die, injure, develop diseases at workplaces and the economic loss these problems cause.
Pakistan is the country where we have seen worst workplace disasters in textile and ship-breaking industries like Baldia factory fire and Gadani oil tanker tragedy yet there has been no remedy nor do such incidents make it to report, except a few, and the daily casualties are taken very casual. This appalling situation can trigger another industrial disaster anytime. The most recent example of it is the fire in the Lucky garments factory in Federal B Industrial Area in Karachi which could cause a massive human loss. It is in the very city that has 70 percent of the country’s industries but safety is a rare thing to be found here. At one side there are no safety arrangements in factories nor workers are trained to deal with emergency situations and on the other, the fire brigade department is in the ruins, They have no adequate resources to fight off the blazes. Though Sindh government has passed the OSH law, there has been no implementation on it.
According to an ILO report, 2.3 million people die in accidents at workplaces and of diseases caused by their work in the world and this inflict an annual loss of USD3 trillion. There are no data about Pakistan, however. The same ILO report states that two billion workers in the world are unhealthy and they suffer hand to mouth economic condition with life insecurity. Among them, 77 percent work on daily wages, contract and part-time and because of having no OSH the global economy suffer 10 to 15 percent losses in the GDP. Every year, 313 million workers get injuries during work in the world, meaning 860,000 daily. Similarly, 6400 die daily in work-related incidents.
With regard to OSH, the most dangerous sector is of construction and that is among the six top industries in the world where the workplaces casualties are alarmingly high. In Pakistan, the construction industry is booming because of the ‘development’ going around, yet there is no account of workers’ health and safety. To end the poverty and inequality in the society, giving employment and social security to the people is inevitable. Otherwise, the change and the establishment of an ideal situation is a mere dream.
Through this press conference, we demand that:
* Workers health and safety should be ensured in all industries, including textile and ship-breaking
* Like Sindh, other provinces in the country and the Center should make legislation in light of OSH and ensure implementation on it
* Monitoring committees, having workers representatives onboard, should be made at the provincial and federal level for an effective implementation
* Special legislation should be made for ship-breaking and construction sectors
* Governments should run campaigns to create awareness about health and safety and the subject should be included in the curriculum
Those who spoke at the press conference are Nasir Mansoor, deputy general secretary National Trade Union Federation, Zehra Khan, general secretary Home Based Women Workers Federation, Gul Rehman, general secretary Aluminium Packages Azad Workers Union (CBA), Riaz Abbasi, general secretary Atlas Group of Companies Workers Union (CBA), Bashir Ahmed Mehmoodani, president Ship Breaking Workers Union Gadani, Saeeda Khatoon, chairperson Ali Enterprises Factory (Baldia) Fire Affectees Association, and Mushtaq Ali Shan, information secretary Sindh Agriculture General Workers Union (CBA).
Contact
Nasir Mansoor, deputy general secretary National Trade Union Federation
ntufpak@gmail.com
Hong Kong: The Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims hosts 28 April commemoration
Commemorating International Workers Memorial Day in Hong Kong. The demands that were made was that workers do not work excessive hours and have a right to a safe and healthy work/life balance and the second demand was that April 28 be recognised and commemorated in Hong Kong by all and not just a few groups in Hong Kong that work on Labour Rights and Occupational Safety and Health. The assembly was hosted by Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims (Hong Kong).
Kyrgyzstan: On 28 April BWI campaigned for safety in LafargeHolcim operations
Iceland: Electrical union backs BWI’s global campaign for better safety at LafargeHolcim
Here is a support photo from the Icelandic Electrical Workers Union. We have our annual meeting in the northern part of Iceland and we are happy to support our colleagues. Yesterday we discussed ways to make our members safer in work. We recently started to implement new project that’s involves giving personal tag-out/lock-out locks to our members that are working in defined branch.
http://www.rafis.is/…/2021-lafargeholcim-keep-your-word-res…
Kristján Þórður Snæbjarnarson
Leader of the Icelandic Electrical workers union
Slovakia: Let’s get together and protect the most important thing we have – human life
A message from Konfederácia odborových zväzov Slovenskej republiky – KOZ SR “So this week, one more time: Let’s get together and do everything we can to protect even at work the most important thing we have – human life. #Iwmd18 International day of safety and health at work.”
Wales TUC launches animations and videos showing unions workplaces are safer workplaces [Welsh and English]
To mark International Workers’ Memorial Day, a new short film has been launched today (Saturday) by the Wales Trade Union Congress to highlight the difference that trade union health and safety representatives have made in workplaces.
The animation (in both Welsh and English Version) shows how health and safety reps are ensuring that unionised workplaces are safer workplaces, with evidence showing that injury and sickness rates are lower in workplaces with higher numbers of union members.
It is launched alongside a message (In Welsh and English Versions) from the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, who urges people across Wales to join a trade union to make their workplaces safer.
Mike Jenkins and Julie Cook – President and National Officer of Wales TUC – pay their respects on International Workers’ Memorial Day in 2014.
Asia: On 28 April ANROEV demands Asian governments immediately ratify ILO Convention 155
The members of the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV) a grassroots coalition of victims’ groups, trade unions and other labour groups across Asia call for the ratification of the ILO convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health and the working environment.
USA: One California worker is killed every day
Worksafe Releases Report for Workers Memorial Day 2018
Link to report: http://bit.ly/DyingAtWork2018
OAKLAND, April 27, 2018 – 376 workers were killed on the job in California in 2016, approximately one per day. This and other findings are included in a report released today by Worksafe, an Oakland-based worker health and safety organization, to commemorate Workers Memorial Day 2018, an international day of remembrance for workers who have been killed and injured at work.
“We need stronger laws, more robust enforcement, and genuine worker participation to reach the goal of zero worker deaths,” says Worksafe Managing Attorney, Jora Trang. And as a miami injury attorney noted, “California’s historic role as a worker health and safety innovator is more important than ever given the Trump Administration’s anti-regulation agenda and anti-immigrant policies.”
Dying at Work in California is Worksafe’s 7th annual report on the state of safety and health protections for California workers. The report provides information on fatalities from 2016 and highlights four special issue areas: workplace violence, temporary workers, wildfire response and relief, and immigrant workers. It also includes a partial list of workers who died at work in 2017 as well as a profiles of several of these workers.
The report shows that while nationally, worker fatalities are higher than they have been in nearly a decade, California has one of the lowest occupational fatality rates in the country. California’s occupational fatality rate is 2.2 deaths per 100,000 workers, which is below the national average of 3.6 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers. The report cautions, however, that occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities are chronically undercounted due to employer failure to document injuries, workers not reporting injuries due to fear of retaliation, and the failure to include injuries and illnesses that develop over time.
Alarmingly, workplace violence is the second-leading cause of workplace death in California, accounting for 20 percent of all workplace deaths. 46 of these 77 deaths were homicides and 25 were suicides.
The issue of workplace violence will be highlighted at a Workers Memorial Day Event where the report will be launched. The event will be held in downtown Oakland at the Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th Street, Room 4/5 on Friday, April 27th at 12:00pm. Speakers from Cal/OSHA and OSHA, labor organizations, and community groups will share current efforts to protect workers and their families from gun violence and physical assaults, because, well, anyone could practically walk into an armory and buy guns & ammo from Palmetto State Armory.
Transportation, material moving occupations, and construction and extraction occupations continue to be the most dangerous jobs with more fatalities than other occupations with 109 transportation workers killed and 54 construction workers killed in 2016. Latinx workers continue to be at high risk for workplace death. In 2016, 148 Latinx workers were killed on the job, making up 39 percent of total fatalities.
Nationwide, 14 people are killed on the job each day and worker fatalities are higher than they have been in nearly a decade with an alarming number of Latinx and immigrant worker deaths.
For more information, contact:
Jora Trang, Managing Attorney, Worksafe
jtrang@worksafe.org | 510.922.8719
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Worksafe is a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting people from job-related hazards and empowering them to advocate for the right to a safe and healthy workplace. For more information, visit www.worksafe.org.