International Workers’ Memorial Day activities across Australia can be found here.
China: Release of film on labour exploitation and related health risks in electronics
COMPLICIT, an award winning film that is an excellent resource for discussions/seminars/training sessions on labour exploitation and related health risks in China, is being released globally on 28 April, to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day.
The film notes that China produces 90 per cent of the world’s consumer electronics. According to official figures, every five hours, a worker is poisoned by the toxic chemicals used to make these products. But the real figure is believed to be much higher.
“Shot below the radar over three years, Complicit follows Chinese worker-turned-activist, Yi Yeting, and a group of other worker-activists fighting to improve conditions in the factories. While battling his own work-induced leukaemia, Yi Yeting teaches himself labour law in order to prepare a legal challenge against his former employers. He then forms a law co-operative to defend and educate other sick workers,” the film blurb notes.
“As well as taking on corrupt officials, the activists infiltrate factories making products for some of the world’s largest brands to secure proof of dangerous working conditions.”
Complicit from Java Films on Vimeo.
28 April ITUC/CSI/IGB posters and briefings
Download the poster: Español• Français • English
Download the briefing: English • Deutsch • Español • Français
CSI: Les syndicats organisent en faveur d’un travail décent, plus sûr et plus sain
Toutes les 11 secondes, un travailleur meurt dans le monde en raison des conditions de travail. Tous les décès sont évitables. Les connaissances existent, la technologie existe, mais la volonté n’y est pas. L’organisation syndicale est un antidote avéré.
Les syndicats organisent en faveur d’un travail décent, plus sûr et plus sain
IGB: Gewerkschaften organisieren sich für sicherere, gesündere, menschenwürdige Arbeit
Weltweit kommt alle elf Sekunden ein Mensch aufgrund schlechter Arbeitsbedingungen ums Leben. All diese Todesfälle sind vermeidbar, aber dennoch steigt die Zahl der Opfer, warnt Sharan Burrow. Die Generalsekretärin des IGB erläutert, dass dies der Grund für den umgehenden Start einer intensivierten Organisierungskampagne der internationalen Gewerkschaftsbewegung ist, die darauf abzielt, Sicherheit, Gerechtigkeit und Rechenschaftspflicht einzufordern.
Gewerkschaften organisieren sich für sicherere, gesündere, menschenwürdige Arbeit
CSI: Los sindicatos organizan para lograr trabajo decente, más seguro y más saludable
En todo el mundo, unas malas condiciones de trabajo ocasionan la muerte de un trabajador cada 11 segundos. Todas estas muertes son evitables, y sin embargo la cifra sigue incrementándose, advierte Sharan Burrow. La Secretaria General de
la CSI indica que es por ese motivo que los sindicatos mundiales están lanzando una urgente y renovada campaña de organización, reclamando seguridad, justicia y responsabilidad.
Los sindicatos organizan para lograr trabajo decente, más seguro y más saludable
ITUC – Unions are organising for safer, healthier, decent work
Worldwide, poor working conditions kill a worker every 11 seconds. All these deaths are avoidable, yet the body count is increasing, warns Sharan Burrow. The ITUC General Secretary says that is why global unions are launching a reinvigorated and urgent organising campaign to demand safety, justice and accountability.
ITUC – Unions are organising for safer, healthier, decent work
Ireland: Workers’ Memorial Day 2018 – April 28th
Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority (HSA) reports “Colleagues from Congress, Ibec, the Health and Safety Authority and Construction Industry Federation will come together to mark the occasion with a programme of joint awareness raising initiatives. To mark the day there are a range of initiatives that your organisation should consider including:
- Get involved by using the national Workers’ Memorial Day Ireland logo on your website, social media presence, presentations, email signatures, displays and in offices and workplaces
- In-house training sessions or a toolbox talk
- Website/Social Media/Newsletter content
- Guest speaker presentation to your staff
- Press release to your local/national media marking your event / the day”
More details here. Contact: Gavin Lonergan, Head of Communications at the HSA at gavin@hsa.ie or (01) 799 7838.
Global: Countdown to Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April
With fewer than three weeks to go until International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April, a welter of new resources has become available to help union safety reps promote the global event.
Hazards Campaign Unions make work safer poster (printed A4 and A3 available in single or multiple orders, for the price of postage only) and other 28 April 2018 resources. To order, telephone: 0161 636 7557 or email: info@hazardscampaign.org.uk
ITUC 28 April 2018 poster in English , Spanish and French. ITUC/Hazards 28 April 2018 international events and campaign website and theme announcement in English, Spanish and French.
TUC 28 April 2018 webpages. Email details of UK events to the TUC health and safety office to be included in the TUC listing. When tweeting details of your 28 April plans and resources, use the hashtag #iwmd18
Sharan Burrow: World of trouble: Unions are organising for safer, healthier and decent work, Hazards magazine, Number 141, 2018. Risks 843. 7 April 2018
Australia: On 28 April VTHC will campaign for industrial manslaughter laws
Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) is marking International Workers Memorial Day with a focus on industrial manslaughter legislation.
Boots and shoes will be laid out to represent each workplace fatality in Victoria over the past 12 months. VTHC will also run a forum on the campaign and a very striking poster has been produced.
Click on the image for a larger version or download the PDF here.
For further information contact Renata Musolino RMusolino@vthc.org.au
Victorian Trades Hall Council
www.ohsrep.org.au
Croatia: Healthy workplaces manage hazardous chemicals (SGH)
Sindikat graditeljstva Hrvatske (SGH ), the Croatian affiliate of the global construction union BWI, observes every year at the end of April, a day or two before 28 April SGH traditionally organises a round table or conference.
This year on 27th April there will be a tripartite conference “Healthy workplaces manage hazardous chemicals.”
Further information:
Sindikat graditeljstva Hrvatske
Trade Union of Construction Industry of Croatia
t/f: +385 1 465 5014
m: +385 99 253 6590
domagoj.ferdebar@sgh.hr
www.sgh.hr
Slovenia: SDGD press conference, exhibition and survey to mark 28 April
Global construction federation BWI affiliate Sindikat Delavcev Gradbenih Dejavnosti Slovenije (SDGD) reports that on April 28th the construction union will hold a traditional press conference to inform the public about the Zveza svobodnih sindikatov Slovenije/ Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (ZSSS) messages on the occasion of the World Health and Safety Day.
They will also have an online survey of occupational diseases and then publish the results with an exhibition planned for the 6th floor of the union HQ.
Traditionally, at the same time, they publish statistics for last year, how many injuries, occupational diseases, how many died …
One month ago, the union sent questions to the state authorities that kept official statistics on all of these and asked them to send the data by 19 April 2018.
They work on press and communication on April 28 from 2003 onwards every year.
Spain: Manifiesto de CCOO y UGT ‘Trabajo seguro es tu salud, es tu derecho’
Canada: Day of Mourning British Columbia
Last year, 158 B.C. workers died from a workplace injury or disease. Now, families and communities are left to mourn.
Across Canada, April 28 has been designated the Day of Mourning. As workers, families, employers, and communities come together at ceremonies held around the province to remember those who have lost their lives to work-related incidents or occupational disease, and renew the commitment to creating healthy and safe workplaces.
Day of Mourning BC has published an excellent set of resources to support activities on International Workers’ Memorial Day.