FGBB, a Tunisian affiliate of the global construction federation BWI has reported that safety campaigning actions will be held to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day, involving over 200 workers.
Category Archives: 2023
Tasmania: Remembering workers killed or injured by their employers
The 28th of April is #InternationalWorkersMemorialDay
Unions Tasmania will hold services in Launceston and Hobart to remember those killed or injured because of their work. We invite the community to join with us #politas #IWMD23
Global: Join the ILO ‘dialogue’ on 28 April
ILO ‘fundamental’ OHS dialogue on 28 April
A safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work
In June 2022, the International Labour Conference (ILC) decided to include “a safe and healthy working environment” in the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work.
On 28 April 2023, the ILO will celebrate this decision, bringing together experts and constituents to discuss the implications it has for the world of work, as well as how to practically implement this right in the world of work. It will also serve to present the findings of research on the implementation status of various provisions of the fundamental Conventions No. 155 and No. 187.
- Live on Friday, 28 April from 13:30 to 15:00 CEST
How can we promote the fundamental right to a safe and healthy working environment?
Join the ILO global dialogue on how to implement a safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental principle and right at work.
Global: Union organisation is a life or death issue
No-one should die to make a living. After all, occupational health and safety is now a globally-binding ILO fundamental legal right at work.
But a new report warns bad jobs still kill someone somewhere every six seconds, every day, round the clock. It notes that last year the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) recognised occupational health and safety as a top rated ‘fundamental’ right at work.
“Politically, it’s a game changer,” it notes. “Practically, workers have continued to die, an estimated 3 million in the last year alone.”
The report, published in the union-backed Hazards magazine ahead of International Workers’ Memorial Day, argues union organising can make the difference. “Whether you describe it as the ‘union dividend’, ‘union advantage’ or ‘union effect’, there is a long-established, well-tested proof of the life-saving impact of union organisation at work. It shows walking out or being walked all over can be a life or death decision.”
Organising for occupational health and safety is the theme this year for the 28 April event.
Full story: Everyday heroes: The lifesaving union effect. Hazards, number 161, 2023.
Canada: Workers’ Day of Mourning | Canadian Union of Public Employees
Apr 28, 2023
Work must be healthy and safe. COVID-19 pandemic emergency measures are over, but workers still have the right to be protected from the dangers of respiratory illnesses in their work. It’s not just COVID-19. Infections can damage workers’ health and put their lives at risk.
Workers are facing increased pressure to “get back to normal” while still trying to recover from the pandemic’s intense work pace and emotional, physical, and personal demands. The impacts on mental health continue to emerge, impacts most workplaces aren’t equipped to deal with it.
Workers must keep pushing their employers to prevent exposure to communicable illnesses and to deal with the mental injuries caused by work. Employers must provide adequate sick time for workers to recover from all illnesses – health isn’t only from the neck down.
Unacceptable losses
Workers in Canada continue to be killed at a completely unacceptable rate. The most recent available statistics show that nearly 1,000 workers are killed on the job each year – a number that does not include claims rejected by compensation boards.
This year, we remember the following CUPE members who died because of work in 2022:
- Sherri Anne D’Amour, CUPE 5167, Ontario
- Michael Boulanger, CUPE 4705, Ontario
- Wilmer Gonzalez, CUPE 2740, Saskatchewan
Remembering your four rights
As trade unionists, it is our responsibility to continue this fight. We must ensure that all workers know about the four workers’ rights enshrined in every health and safety law in the country:
- The right to refuse work you believe is unsafe until an investigation can be carried out;
- The right to participate in deciding what is safe in the workplace and to report hazards;
- The right to information on any hazard in the workplace that may cause harm, and how to prevent that harm;
- The right to be free from reprisal for carrying out any of the other rights or any other requirement of health and safety law.
The role of health and safety committees
Employers across Canada must provide a healthy and safe workplace. Employers are legally obligated to collaborate with workers on health and safety committees to highlight issues and find safe solutions.
Let’s build capacity, document workplace hazards, keep careful records, and demand that workers be protected from hazards we can’t remove. It’s not enough to acknowledge danger, it must be addressed. When an employer fails to uphold their duty of care, we must take the next steps with government inspectors.
https://cupe.ca/event/workers-day-mourning
USA: Regulator urges support for 28 April
28 April: Did you know you can help honor workers who have lost their lives or been injured on the job?
Did You Know?
In the days leading up to Workers Memorial Day (April 28), family members, workers, labor unions, and advocates will gather in Washington, D.C., and communities across the country to honor and remember our fallen and injured workers. To participate, you can join the April 27 Department of Labor ceremony online, find or share local events, or submit a photo of a loved one to add to our Workers Memorial Wall.
¿Sabías?
En los días previos al Día de Conmemoración de los Trabajadores (28 de abril), familiares, trabajadores, sindicatos y defensores se reunirán en Washington, D.C., y en comunidades de todo el país para honrar y recordar a nuestros trabajadores caídos y heridos. Para participar, puede unirse a la ceremonia del 27 de abril del Departamento de Trabajo en línea, encontrar o compartir eventos locales, o enviar una foto de un ser querido para añadirla a nuestro Muro Conmemorativo de los Trabajadores
OSHA Workers’ Memorial Day page
Ireland: Workers’ Memorial Day 2023
Congress, along with the Government, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), Ibec, the CIF and NISO will collectively mark Workers’ Memorial Day Ireland on 28 April at the national and annual commemorative event to remember people who died, were injured, made ill and bereaved through work-related incidents.
Congress Assistant General Secretary Owen Reidy will be joined by Mark Cullen, interim CEO of the Health and Safety Authority, and Minister Neale Richmond TD who will lay a wreath on behalf of the State to remember those workers we have lost.
In Ireland in the ten-year period between 2013 and 2022, 461 people died in work-related incidents and many thousands more were severely injured or made ill. In 2022 alone, 27 people died in work-related incidents.
These are unacceptable figures which can be reduced through a combined and intensified effort by all concerned. By working together and promoting the practice of safety and health in workplaces throughout Ireland we will achieve a significant drop.
What can you and your organisation do to support this initiative?
There are a wide range of initiatives that your organisation can consider including:
- Get involved in raising awareness by using the official Workers’ Memorial Day Ireland logo on your website, social media activity, presentations, email signatures, displays and in offices and workplaces. The logo is available at hsa.ie/workersmemorialday
- Publish relevant website/newsletter content highlighting the importance of a positive and proactive approach to work-related safety and health
- Host your own ceremonial event or minutes silence to mark the occasion
- Publish appropriate social media content. For example, take a photo of your activity or event and share it on social media. Please use the hashtag #WorkersMemorialDay and #IWMD23 on any posts and tag relevant organisations, including @NISOIreland @TheHSA on Twitter
- Add an overlay to your workplace or personal Twitter or Facebook account at: https://twibbon.com/Support/workers-memorial-day-11
- Take this opportunity to host an in-house training sessions or a toolbox talk
- Consider a guest speaker presentation to staff from an appropriate source, e,g. a Safety Representative
- Issue a press release to your local/national media marking your event or the day itself
USA: AFL-CIO 28 April toolkit available: Organize! Safe Jobs Now.
AFL-CIO, the US national union federation, says its Workers’ Memorial Day toolkit is now available! You can find state by state safety and health facts, talking points, sample event advisories and press releases and some informational fliers on occupational heat exposure and workplace violence in HC/SS. Please feel free to send us feedback on how you’re using it and what else would be helpful in future years. Direct link is here.
aflcio.org/workersmemorialday.
Global: BWI Call to Action: 2023 International Workers’ Memorial Day
International Workers’ Memorial Day 2023 is annually observed on April 28. This year, BWI will highlight ways to put the right to safe and healthy workplaces into practice through the theme “MAKE IT HAPPEN.” This is an effort to celebrate and raise awareness on occupational health and safety (OHS) as a basic right.
Trade unions worldwide will carry out joint activities with employers and/or organise rallies to promote the implementation of OHS as a fundamental worker right. Activities will take place the whole week covering 24-30 April.
On 10 June 2022, the International Labour Conference (ILC) adopted a resolution to add the principle of a safe and healthy working environment to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. With this groundbreaking development, Occupational Health and Safety is now secured as ILO’s fifth Fundamental Principle and Right at Work.
However, the time for celebration is over; we now shift our campaign to its full implementation. All workers worldwide must become conscious of this landmark agreement, and together, we will call on every government and employer to deliver a healthy and safe work environment.
445 joint declarations covering 480,000 workplaces and 18 million workers worldwide were signed by trade unions and employers calling for the recognition of OHS as a fundamental right leading to its adoption before the ILO. We will now go back to each and every employer who signed the joint OHS declarations and ask them to implement OHS as a right and MAKE IT HAPPEN. We do this by:
- Holding joint safety and health trainings at worksites.
- Conduct joint safety and health worksite visits/inspections.
- Hold candlelight activities and other commemorative events to honour all workers who lost their lives and/or were injured in the performance of their work.
For affiliates with uncooperative employers, we call on them to hold mass rallies and demonstrations in front of companies to protest their unsafe working conditions and poor safety records.
BWI regional offices will assist affiliates in carrying out one or more of joint activities with employer signatories, document their activities and distribute knowledge material and information posters.
Please share your plans with your respective regional coordinators.
We will include them on our dedicated website www.28april.org where various materials, activities and events are shared.
During BWI’s Week of Action, document your activities by:
- Taking photos and videos of your activities. Please dowload and promote our campaign posters online and offline.
- Issuing press releases and other media publications.
- Spreading our activities through social media using the hashtag: #IWMD2023
Lastly, share all your content with your respective regional BWI communication teams.
