All posts by Jawad

Canada: Enforce, reinforce workplace safety laws 25 years after Westray

westray memorial
Photo: (KATHLEEN FLANAGAN)

By DANNY CAVANAGH

Throughout the world each day, thousands are diagnosed with a terminal illness, become disabled, are injured or die due to workplace conditions.

Each year, April 28 is recognized as the Day of Mourning — a tradition that began here in Canada. It is a day when unions, governments and businesses publicly acknowledge workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths.

Many flags fly at half-mast to recognize the lives needlessly lost and the tremendous suffering of those who must cope in the wake of workplace tragedies. April 28 is also a day when together we renew our commitment to improving workplace health and safety rules and legislation to bring an end to such needless suffering.

This coming May 9 will mark 25 years since the Westray mine disaster in Plymouth. more

Swedish construction union Byggnads youth in action on #IWMD17

USA: Commemorating Workers’ Memorial Day 2017 and Planning for the Fight Ahead

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In Honor of Workers’ Memorial Week, each day this week Citizen Vox discussed the need for safe jobs and called attention to the ways the Trump administration is dismantling key worker health and safety protections.

Significant challenges are ahead in the fight for safer workplaces.

Today is the first Workers’ Memorial Day under the Trump administration. And, now, more than ever, our communities should come together to demand strong protections in the workplace. Not one more worker should have to die from a preventable incident at work.

This week, our blog series recapped the ways in which the Trump administration and the Republican Congress are rewarding corporations at the expense of the health and safety of working families. In the first 100 days of this administration, workers suffered devastating rollbacks of workplace safety regulations and were left to wonder whether their political leaders would defund the agencies keeping them safe on the job.

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USA: AFL-CIO – Mourn for the Dead, Fight Like Hell for the Living

150 Workers Die Each Day

Today, on Workers Memorial Day, people all over the world remember workers who were killed, injured or made sick by their jobs. It’s also a day we commit to fighting for safer working conditions. Most importantly, it is the day we remind ourselves that safe jobs are every worker’s right. more

Kenya: Sugar workers observe Workers’ Memorial Day

The IUF Global Sugar and Palm Oil Program and the Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation Workers (KUSPW) observed the Workers’ Memorial Day, April 28th, with weeklong activities that included workshops on the impact of sexual harassment on the health and safety of sugar workers in Kenya. The program also included a march through the roads of the South Nyanza Sugar Company (SONY), located in the Nyanza Province with the message that good jobs are safe jobs while raising awareness among workers and their families that sexual harassment must also be considered as a hazard in the workplace. Another KUSPW branch at the Nzoia Sugar Estate (Western Province) also observed Workers’ Memorial Day for the third year in a row. more

New Zealand: Too many Kiwis are being killed at work

In the last two weeks seven New Zealanders went to work and never came home. They were killed at work. This Workers Memorial Day, April 28th, NZCTU remembers them and other working people who were killed at work. more

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Switzerland: Trade unionists from around the world demand a global ban on asbestos on #IWMD17

France: Dans plus de 100 pays, on célèbre aujourd’hui la journée mondiale de la sécurité et de la santé au #travail #IWMD17

Germany: Workers‘ Memorial Day – Gesundheit & Sicherheit von Leiharbeitsbeschäftigten nicht länger vernachlässigen!

Belgium: EPSU’s firefighters network mark International Workers Memorial Day at Brussels meeting

EPSU’s Firefighters Network met in Brussels today on this  International Workers’ Memorial Day. This is the day when we remember the 168,000 people who die each year from work-related accidents and diseases. And recognise that over 3 million people report accidents at work each year.

Many firefighters are developing cancers and unfortunately losing their lives due to their constant exposure to hazardous materials, as they go about their day-to-day work. more

EPSU Firefighters Network Meeting 27-28 April 2017 Brussels