To raise awareness on health and safety and workplace deaths BWI’s Belgian affiliate ACV-CSC held a demonstration in Brussels on 29 April 2019. The participants were dressed in white with a white mask to symbolize the number of deaths due to accidents at work each year in Belgium.
The union is also contacting members of Parliament who are members of the Social Affairs Committee to have their signature on a declaration of commitment. The purpose is to obtain their support for an amendment to the legislation to provide workplace accident victims with an immediate copy of the workplace accident report.
Trade Union Federation ACV-CSC has sent the following announcement of their planned activities for 28 April:
Our national action at the ACV-CSC is divided into 2 parts:
Monday 29 April 9.30 am, Place Horta in Brussels (close to the Ministry of Employment) : an awareness campaign via a symbolic action. 150 ACV-CSC members will lie on beds. They will be dressed all in white, with a white mask. This action symbolizes the number of deaths due to accidents at work each year in Belgium. The action will last one hour. We had done a similar action in 2013 (image below).
Political action : we contact the members of Parliament who are members of the Social Affairs Committee to have their signature on a declaration of commitment. Our purpose is to obtain their support for an amendment to the legislation to provide workplace accident victims with an immediate copy of the workplace accident report (written by the employer). We believe that such an amendment to the legislation will make it possible to limit the refusal of insurers to recognize work accidents, because the worker could immediately report a failure or error in the workplace accident report. With the commitments of as many members of the Parliament as possible, our demand should be heard.
ACV-CSC has also published informative documentation for its members but also for workers across the country (see attachments… in French and Dutch)
ACV-CSC will also conduct several regional actions (for example on 26 April in Liège a workshop around Health and Safety at work).
Every year ACV – CSC takes action on the 28th of April to raise awareness around health and safety at work. In 2015 focusing on the REFIT-program of the European Commission, several problems within the dangerous substances legislation (occupational limit values, carcinogens and reprotoxic substances) and organising a large information campaign on the use of dangerous substances. Following actions took place:
In all Belgian companies with workers representatives, but also in some SME’s ACV-CSC distributed leaflets with information on the safe use of dangerous substances, employers and workers obligations. (leaflet in French and Dutch )
ACV-CSC prepared a publication on the REFIT-program of the European Commission to explain what it is really about, a deregulation of workers rights, also in the field of health and safety (link to the REFIT-publication in French • More information.
On Tuesday, 28th of April, together with FGTB, CGSLB and ETUC ACV-CSC visited our minister of labor, Kris Peeters and asked him:
To make sure that REFIT won’t affect the health and safety of workers.
To defend the necessary revision of the European carcinogens directive with a priority list of 50 binding occupational exposure limits and the integration of the reprotoxic substances in the scope of this directive.
To defend a harmonisation of OELs in the European Community to prevent disloyal competition at the expense of workers health.
To take action on a national level to integrate reprotoxics in Belgian legislation on carcinogens.
More information on this visit you can find here in French and in Dutch.
On 28th April, the Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique (FGTB) – Charleroi and the Centre de Défense et d’Action pour la Santé des Travailleurs (C-DAST) will organise an seminar in the Bois du Cazier. The seminar title is ‘We should not let them demolish our health! The event location is symbolic: a restored coal mine in which 262 miners died in 1956 following a technical accident. The union will also organise an action in front of the employers’ organisation headquarters.
For more information on FGTB Charleroi activities for this 28th April, please contact Philippe Vigneron, philippe.vigneron@accg.be
