Did you know that 7⃣8⃣% of occupational cancers are related to #asbestos?
This International Workers’ Memorial Day #IWMD23, we remember the #firefighters who lost their lives due to #asbestos.
Firefighters protect us every day. We call on @EU_Commission to protect them. Now! pic.twitter.com/2E9EiXDmdi
— EPSU (@EPSUnions) April 28, 2023
Commenting on an STV news report Scottish TUC said: “It’s unacceptable and frankly galling that the amount of workers in Scotland who have died at work has increased. We cannot allow this to pass unchecked and on #IWMD23, the STUC reiterate our call to remember the dead whilst fighting for the living.”
Workplace fatalities at highest level since 2019, study finds, STV News, 28 April 2023
Pat Kenny -Health and Safety Officer CWU on Workers Memorial Day reminded Workers of their right to select a fellow worker as a Safety Representative. #WorkersMemorialDay #iwmd23
Day of Mourning 2023: Workers’ empowerment key to workplace health and safety
April 28, 2023
As unions across Canada mark the National Day of Mourning, the Canadian Labour Congress wants to ensure workers are empowered to know their health and safety rights in the workplace, defend existing gains and use the tools at their disposal.
April 28 is the National Day of Mourning, a day to commemorate those who have died or been injured as a result of their job. This year’s focus, “Know your rights; Use the tools; Defend our wins,” is aimed at supporting and empowering workers to actively participate in workplace health and safety.
“Workers deserve to arrive home safely at the end of the workday. We expect employers to do their part to keep workers safe, by upholding health and safety standards in the workplace, and providing necessary equipment and training,” said Bea Bruske, President of the CLC. “But we want workers to feel supported in standing up for their hard-won health and safety rights. We want to ensure that workers are empowered, not just to push back in unsafe situations, but to take an active role in the process of keeping themselves and their co-workers safe.”
Across Canada, there were 1,081 accepted workplace fatalities and 277,217 accepted lost time claims across Canada, marking a rise in cases from the previous year.
“One death is already one too many and it should be common sense that employers invest in proven prevention tools, like empowered, well-trained health and safety committees. Yet too many employers are quick to ignore their legal duty to provide safe working conditions and are willing to cut corners in the name of saving a few dollars,” said Bruske. “Make no mistake: we will always fight to uphold workers’ rights, and we won’t back down against anyone who would weaken health and safety legislation to appease businesses.”
Canada’s unions have long fought for better enforcement of existing occupational health and safety legislation, and the Westray sections of the Criminal Code of Canada.
Empowering workers starts with ensuring they know their rights, and how to apply and defend them. Workers should also feel supported in demanding better.
“The bare minimum isn’t good enough, and the stubbornly high number of worker injuries and deaths each year proves it. Employers and governments must respect their own duty to create safe work, call out unsafe work, and be part of a culture of safety and prevention. Workers deserve nothing less,” said Bruske.
IUF Food & Beverage Workers Council in Bangladesh observed minute silence to recall tragic death of workers due to unsafe working conditions and resolved to fight for safe workplaces. Remember the dead and flight for the living. Stop the Killing.
28 April is International Workers’ Memorial Day, a day to remind us that health and safety at work is neither a perk to be bargained for nor a favour to be asked. It is our right in the workplace. #iwmd23 #genderbasedviolence #SexualHarassment
For #IWMD23 retail and distribution trade union Usdaw is promoting the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) theme of ‘Organising health and safety within the workplace’. Making the case for strong laws, strong enforcement and strong unions to help Health and Safety Reps organise, inspect and protect.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “International Workers’ Memorial Day is when the labour movement remembers those who have been killed or injured at work and those who have died from occupational diseases. So on 28 April we ‘remember the dead and fight for the living’ by highlighting our all year round campaigning for better health and safety.
“Health and safety at work is a right not a privilege. Keeping members safe is one of the key aims of Usdaw. This involves ensuring safe working practices and environments, safety training, ensuring the supply of personal protective equipment, and advising members and reps on all other aspects of safety at work.
“Usdaw has thousands of trained Safety Reps across the UK who are instrumental in maintaining a safe workplace and who work with management to prevent accidents. Usdaw also has experts in its health and safety section at head office who, along with the Union’s network of area organisers, offer important advice and support to reps and members.
“The Health and Safety Executive brings unions and employers together, but funding cuts and Government policies have weakened its effectiveness. That is why Usdaw is calling for a reversal of the HSE cuts. We also want to see more HSE and local authority inspectors to enforce health and safety law and for the inspectors to work with Union Safety Reps when they do workplace inspections.
“Usdaw Reps across the country will be bringing Workers Memorial Day into their workplaces, publicising the importance of health and safety and in some areas participating in public ceremonies and events. I wish them well in their commemorations and campaigning.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK’s fifth biggest trade union with over 350,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion
International Workers’ Memorial Day allows us to remember the dead and fight for the living
On International Workers’ Memorial Day, we remember all those who have died at work and reconfirm our commitment to fight for the living.
This Thursday 28 April, we encourage our members to take part in remembering all those who have died at work or as a result of their workplace environment.
All workplaces should be healthy and safe environments. Organised workplaces are safer workplaces and having an active union in a workplace:
| NASUWT |
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|---|---|
| TUC | International Workers Memorial Day
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| 28april.org/ITUC | A New Social Contract |
| ILO | World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2023 |
Victims of occupational cancer and their families are today, on International Workers Memorial Day, calling on EU leaders to give workers the highest possible level of protection from asbestos.
Around 90,000 people lose their lives to asbestos-related cancer in the EU every year, making it the leading cause of workplace fatalities.
Between 4 and 7 million workers across the EU are exposed to asbestos and that number is expected to grow by 4% over the next decade as a result of building renovations as part of the EU Green Deal.
The EU is currently reviewing the asbestos exposure limit but the European Commission and European Council want to keep it at a dangerously high level in order to minimise costs for businesses.
To show the consequences of such a decision, trade unions are publishing the testimonies of those whose lives have been blighted by cancer caused by exposure to asbestos at work.
Read more here:
https://www.etuc.org/en/pressrelease/iwmd-asbestos-victims-urge-eu-stop-workplace-cancer-scandal
