Tag Archives: australia

2021, 2021 Asia-Pacific, 2021 Australia, Events listing

Australia: International Workers’ Memorial Day Trades and Labour Council events

April 28 is International Workers’ Memorial Day or Workers’ Mourning Day. This is the international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work.

Unions Tasmania Event (Hobart) – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
1pm, Franklin Square, Hobart

We invite the community to join with unions, families, and workers to commemorate International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD). This important day is marked annually around the world on April 28, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured, or made unwell by their work.

One death at work is one too many. Every worker has the right to go to work and come home safely.

Come along to pay your respects to those that didn’t make it home and join our calls for improved workplace safety laws in Tasmania.

Registration is not essential, but check in for COVID purposes will occur at the event.

1pm

More information can be found here.

Unions Tasmania Event (Launceston) – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
8am, Workers’ Memorial Park, Elizabeth Gardens on Invermay Rd (near UTAS Stadium), Launceston

We invite the community to join with unions, families, and workers to commemorate International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD). This important day is marked annually around the world on April 28, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured, or made unwell by their work.

One death at work is one too many. Every worker has the right to go to work and come home safely.

Come along to pay your respects to those that didn’t make it home and join our calls for improved workplace safety laws in Tasmania.

Registration is not essential, but check in for COVID purposes will occur at the event.

8am – BBQ breakfast provided.

More information can be found here.

Unions WA Event – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
10.30am, Solidarity Park, Harvest Terrace, West Perth

Come and remember those we’ve lost and fight for a fair and safe workplace for all.

Hosted by CFMEU WA, CPSU/CSA, AWU WA Branch, Unions WA.

10.30am

More information can be found here.

VTHC Event – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
10.30am, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, South Carlton, and online

Every year, Victorian Trades Hall Council hosts a memorial service to remember those Victorians who lost their lives at work.

Please join us on the 28th of April for International Workers Memorial Day 2021 to commemorate the workers we’ve lost in the past year.

The ceremony will include a minute’s silence at 11am and an opportunity to lay wreaths.

This event is a COVID safe event and numbers are capped, so RSVPs (and masks) are essential. The memorial service will be held in person at Trades Hall, however this is subject to change pending COVID conditions.

The event will also be broadcast live through the VTHC facebook page.

Remember the dead and fight like hell for the living.

10.30am – 11.15am

RSVP here.

Unions NT Event – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
11am-12.30pm – Raintree Park, Darwin

We invite you all for a day of remembrance for those that went to work, never to return.

We welcome all those affected by the loss of a loved one or simply anyone that wishes to mourn the dead and fight for the living!

Here in the NT, we have a 5 year (2014-2019) average of 4 work-related deaths a year – Safework.

Raintree Park, Darwin.

11am-12.30pm.

More information can be found here.

Unions NSW Event – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
11.55am – Online

You are invited to our online International Day of Mourning service with families and friends who have lost loved ones as a result of workplace incidents or occupational illnesses at work.

RSVP for a reminder text msg before the service starts.

The service provides everyone in NSW with the opportunity to attend and to ensure we are COVID safe, we will be commemorating the 2021 International Day of Mourning online.

We would like you to join the families and their friends to our online service at 11.55am (for a 12pm start) on Wednesday, 28 April 2021 via the International Day of Mourning website at:  https://www.idm2021.com.au/

The thirty-minute service will contain messages from Unions NSW, members of the NSW Parliament, religious representatives and representatives from family members who have lost a loved one.

You will be able to interact and offer your condolences during the online service. The platform which we will be using will allow you to post your message on the day.

For more information or if you have trouble accessing the website, please email Mary at myaager@unionsnsw.org.au  or contact her by phone on 0408 931 899.  On behalf of Unions NSW & supported by the NSW Government.

11.55am

SA Unions Event – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
12pm, Steps of Parliament House, North Terrace, Adelaide

28th of April is International Workers’ Memorial Day. Come join us on the Steps of Parliament House to rally and show support. We will remember those whose lives have been lost at work and advocate for changes to Work Health and Safety Laws.

The rally will highlight; justice for injured or killed workers and the need for industrial manslaughter laws; protecting workplace mental health (act on suicides and sexual harassment); and improved safety rights for workers and their Representatives.

More information can be found here.

12pm

QCU Event – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
11am-12pm, Emma Miller Place, Roma St, Brisbane

Acknowledging the 17,000 frontline health workers lost globally during COVID and every worker who has died at work.

Further information can be found here.

11am-12pm

Unions ACT Event – International Workers’ Memorial Day

28 April 2021
9am-9.45am, National Workers Memorial, Parkes, Canberra

Mourn the Dead
Fight Like Hell for the Living
International Workers Memorial Day is the day we remember the workers who were killed and injured at work.
Join us at the National Workers Memorial in Parkes, on 28 April at 9am for a ceremony.

More information can be found here.

https://www.actu.org.au/ohs/events

2021, 2021 Asia-Pacific, 2021 Australia, Events listing

Australia: VTHC adopts the 28 April theme ‘Health and Safety is a fundamental right at work’ #iwmd21

Victorian Trades Hall Council is marking International Workers’ Memorial Day with a ceremony in Victoria – sign up details can be found on their IWMD webpages

2021, 2021 Asia-Pacific, 2021 Australia, Events listing

Australia: VTHC ‘every killer can be stopped’ event

Every year, Victorian Trades Hall Council hosts a memorial service to remember those Victorians who lost their lives at work.

Please join us on the 28th of April for International Workers Memorial Day 2021 to commemorate the workers we’ve lost in the past year.

The ceremony will include a minute’s silence at 11am and an opportunity to lay wreaths.

This event is a COVID safe event and numbers are capped, so RSVPs (and masks) are essential. The memorial service will be held in person at Trades Hall, however this is subject to change pending COVID conditions.

Remember the dead and fight like hell for the living.

 April 28, 2021 at 10:30am – 11:15am at the Trades Hall – online registration

2021, 2021 Asia-Pacific, 2021 Australia, Events listing

Australia: Unions Tasmania will hold two 28 April events

2020, 2020 Australia, Events listing, News

Australia: Workers have the power to make work safer – MUA

Jake Field, the Maritime Union of Australia national safety and training officer. Photo: MUA

Every year on April 28 workers around the world commemorate the lives of their workmates, loved ones and friends who have been tragically killed or had the trajectory of their lives thrown off course by a serious work-related injury or illness.

This year is no different.

During COVID-19 workers are still suffering; they are still dying and they are being injured and maimed on the job.

The statistics still reflect the inaction of governments and regulators and the callousness and greed of employers, who know they are never going to be at risk of a physical, mental or emotional injury from the work they do.

More in Green Left.

2020, 2020 Australia, Events listing, News

Australia: So many suffer so much in the name of corporate greed [Poem]

So many suffer so much
in the name of corporate greed.
Too many lives are lost
This is not chance,
There is no need.
While grieving families weep
The legal system sweeps
Justice underneath
A tissue made of lies
Facts are stolen,
Truth sickens and dies.

But however long it takes
This much we know
When working men and women
Stand together,
Shoulder to shoulder
Millions strong
There is no wrong
That can survive
Against the light
Of unity love and justice
That’s why we fight.

Dedicated to the memory of all workers killed on construction sites.
And to the families who mourn them.

#IWMD2020

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Australia: NSW nurses union remember their colleagues – [Video]

Video


NSW nurses union remember their colleagues who have died at work over the past year.  NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association

2020, 2020 Australia, Events listing, News

Australia: Unions call for compulsory Mental Health Code of Practice

Queensland Unions are calling for an enforceable mental health code of practice for all Queensland workplaces as communities confront challenges from the psychosocial hazards at work compounded by the psychological impact of coronavirus and bushfires.

This year’s Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April will focus on ensuring private and public sector workplaces acknowledge that they play a crucial role in the mental health of workers and their communities.

Workers Memorial Day in 2020 will be observed online, with a Facebook service at www.facebook.com/QueenslandUnions with prayers and messages of remembrance.

Queensland Council of Unions General Secretary Michael Clifford said the mental health impacts of coronavirus and associated work pressures, as well as the bushfire season, is already leading to heightened anxiety and concern among workers, many of whom are particularly worried about their ongoing employment security.

“A mental health code of practice is as important as any specific industry code, like managing risks of falls from heights, working in confined spaces, or manual handling tasks.

“A code of practice will reinforce to employers their current duty of care to ensure psychological health under the Work Health and Safety Act in Queensland and provide important guidance on how to eliminate or minimise the risk of psychosocial hazards.

“Managing psychosocial hazards like client abuse or workload anxiety is just as important as managing physical hazards like falls from heights,” he said.

Research by mental health support service Beyond Blue says one in five Australians (21%) have taken time off work in the past 12 months because they felt stressed, anxious, depressed or mentally unhealthy.

Mr Clifford said mental ill-health also hurt employers, with a KPMG report in 2018 finding mental ill-health in the workplace costs an average of $3,200 per employee with mental illness, and up to $5,600 for employees with severe mental illness.

Suicide is also the leading cause of death for Australians between 15 and 44 years of age.

Mr Clifford said there was an increased focus on psychosocial issues in workplaces.

For example, in some FIFO workplaces extended shifts are generating added stresses to workers and their families through social isolation and lack of support.

“Employers making changes to rosters and work practices can needlessly elevate stress and anxiety among workers, and also increase the risk of physical injury.”

Other workers are facing increased customer aggression within the COVID-19 environment escalating stress and anxiety levels for many frontline staff.

“It’s been a difficult year already in Queensland and Australia,” he said, “with loss of life and property experienced in the bushfires and now workers across many industries risking their health and safety to keep their communities safe and supplied.”

Last year 168 Australians were killed at work, and as at 17 April this year, 52 workplace fatalities have been recorded across the nation.

“Unions have always fought for stronger health and safety laws to make workplaces safer for workers and the public,” he said.

“Unions successfully called for industrial manslaughter laws in Queensland so that dodgy bosses go to jail if a worker dies in an unsafe workplace.

“There was a successful prosecution this year after a worker died in a forklift accident in Brisbane.

“With so many people experiencing rises in mental health illnesses such as anxiety from their work, a mental health code of practice will be just as important to ensure stronger workplace safety laws,” he said.

https://www.queenslandunions.org/unions-call-for-compulsory-mental-health-code-of-practice/

2020, 2020 Australia, Events listing, News, Videos

Australia: ACTU Secretary’s 28 April video message

Video

Sally McManus Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions “Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living”

2020, 2020 Australia, Events listing, News, Videos

Australia: International Workers Memorial Day Ceremony – VTHC

Video

Today is International Workers’ Memorial Day. Join us, and some special guests, as we pay our respects to workers killed in the workplace over the past year. Every worker deserves to come home safely at the end of the day, and on this day we pledge to remember the dead and fight like hell for the living.

Current circumstances preclude us from being together on this day of remembrance, but we are together in spirit and in solidarity as we conduct this year’s ceremony online. VTHC