Tag Archives: Global

Global: Safe Workers Save Lives – PSI

Coronavirus is a deadly threat to frontline public service workers – And in particular, our members in the health sector

Safe Workers Save Lives

We rely on them to save countless lives – but for them to be able to do their job, governments across the world must take stronger action now:

  • We need sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and training so we can stay healthy while saving lives.
  • We need targeted measures to support health workers who will be working incredibly long hours: care must be provided for their children and other dependents too.
  • We need provisions for home working, paid sick leave, emergency unemployment benefits, and above all, free public healthcare for ALL.
  • We need well-staffed and resourced public health systems, equipped to respond to public health emergencies.

The ongoing Coronavirus outbreak is exposing the vital need for quality public services – especially well-staffed, resilient public health systems.

This is a matter of life and death

Video

Nurse George Poe Williams watched colleagues die as Ebola decimated the Liberian health workforce. Now, he has a message for governments around the world facing the #CoronaVirus: #SafeWorkersSaveLive. Join PSI’s Campaign now at peopleoverprofi.it

Safe Workers Save Lives

What can I do?

  • Fill in our survey and upload materials, resources and strategies for workers and unions dealing with the virus outbreak.
  • Share stories, photos, videos and testimonies from the front lines of the fight against the virus
  • Download our Poster to display at your workplace or share with your members.
  • Sign our petition below for Personal Protective Equipment and training for all workers who need it.
  • Browse our library of materials on COVID-19 for workers and unions.

What can unions do?

  • Fight for the active involvement of trade unions in government decision-making to safeguard workplace safety and health and ensure the costs of this crisis are not borne by the working class.
  • Contribute to policies which ensure all workers, including informal sector workers, casual or sub-contracted workers, are provided sufficient sick-pay and leave allowances for any necessary quarantine or when their workplaces are temporarily closed down to curtail transmission of the infection.
  • Push for the ILO guidelines on decent work in public emergency services to be adopted at the national level, to safeguard workers on the front line, as well as ILO Conventions 155, 187 and ILO Recommendations 194, 197, 171 and Protocol to Convention 155.
  • Stand up for the rights of migrants and refugees as part of the national COVID-19 response and combat all forms of xenophobia and racism.

https://publicservices.international/campaigns/safe-workers-save-lives?id=10633&lang=en

Global: Saving ourselves – A basic reference manual for health and safety activists | IndustriALL

IndustriALL’s manual for health and safety activists is a resource for union health and safety activists, particularly those who are just starting out. The manual, written by IndustriALL’s health and safety director Brian Kohler, provides an overview of basic structures and programmes that workers need to understand when fighting for safer and healthier workplaces.

ENG SPA FRA

What is the biggest challenge to health and safety in the workplace?

“The biggest challenge is to understand that health and safety at work is neither a perk to be bargained for nor a favour to be asked. It is our right.

“No wage is worth our health or our life, and no remedy can be granted by an arbitrator that will restore our health or our life, once it is lost.”

Is there a quick fix?

“If there is a quick fix, I have not found it in over 40 years of health and safety activism! Our rights are never granted easily, they must always be won by activism and determination. Indeed, every right that we now enjoy followed, and never preceded, the demands and determination and activism of people.

“There is no silver bullet; a safe and healthy workplace is the result of ongoing effort and attention.”

What is IndustriALL’s role in promoting health and safety in the workplace?

“IndustriALL can support union activists in their struggle by providing a framework for understanding occupational health and safety from a trade union point of view. Safe and healthy workplaces are the result of effective and overlapping safety systems: materials, tools, equipment, workplace environment, management priorities, policies, programmes, work procedures – and of course people.

“All of these must be designed, tested, educated or trained to be as safe and healthy as possible.”

How do we stop the corona virus at work?

“The Covid-19 pandemic that we now face is an extraordinary situation, but the principles of infection control are known and have been known for decades. Keep yourselves – especially your hands – clean. Keep equipment, tools, controls and surfaces clean. If social distancing cannot be maintained in your workplace, consider masks – but make sure you wear the correct mask and implement the mask program with appropriate education and training and auditing. (Any respiratory protection programme, whether to wear a simple surgical mask or a supplied-air respirator, needs careful implementation and follow-up to succeed.)

“Think about routes of transmission: during the commute to work and home again, at shift changes, near particular pieces of equipment, in the lunch room, washrooms – wherever people will share breathing space.

“Ensure that workers have sufficient “sick leave” so that they do not feel the need to come to work while sick. Implement a testing program when tests become more readily available. Have a plan to accommodate workers who have higher risk levels. Have a plan to deal with a worker who begins to feel symptoms while at work – how will you get them to medical care, and how will you trace and track every worker that they came into contact with?

“These are just examples, there are extensive guidelines available from the World Health Organization and from national governments and other credible sources. There is also a lot of misinformation out there, so make sure you are getting your guidance from a credible source!”

What rights do workers have?

“Trade unions insist on three basic occupational health and safety rights for workers: the right to know, the right to participate, and the right to refuse or shut down unsafe work.

“The right to know means to know everything there is to know about the hazards of our work, and to receive the necessary education and training to do the job safely.

“The right to participate means to be full partners in the development and implementation of all workplace health and safety policies, programmes, procedures, accident/incident investigations, inspections, audits, risk assessments – everything. We want health and safety done with us, not “to us”. The only people with the moral authority to assess a risk are those who face the risk.

“Finally, we demand the right to refuse to perform, or to shut down, any work that a worker believes to be unsafe or dangerous to health – without negative repercussions.”

Global: Stop the pandemic – Safety and health at work can save lives | ILO

Recognising the challenge that governments, employers, workers and whole societies are facing worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day – World Day for Safety and Health at Work – the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will focus on addressing the outbreak of infectious diseases at work, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.

The day will focus on addressing the outbreak of infectious diseases at work, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to stimulate national tripartite dialogue on safety and health at work. The ILO is using this day to raise awareness on the adoption of safe practices in workplaces and the role that occupational safety and health (OSH) services play. It will also focus on the medium to long-term, including recovery and future preparedness, in particular, integrating measures into OSH management systems and policies at the national and enterprise levels. More

Global: BWI Action Alert – International Workers Memorial Day ‘Protect Workers! Stop COVID-19’

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives and that of the workers in our sectors, with new risks and fears not only for health and safety but for our overall wellbeing and that of our families and communities. Given that the pandemic is affecting all workers worldwide, including building and construction workers and wood and forestry workers, our work as a Global Union to be united has never been as relevant as it is today. International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD) is on Tuesday 28th of April 2020 and the BWI will campaign theme is year is “Protect Workers! Stop COVID-19We encourage all affiliates to incorporate our theme in your respective campaigns so that your members can be part of the global campaign.

There are other serious health and safety issues continue to be important and should not be put aside this IWMD. We know that more than 100,000 construction workers die each year in preventable “accidents” on site. Forestry workers are also confronted with dangerous conditions that are notorious in the sector. Health and safety are undermined by the reliance of the forestry sector on informal and subcontracting work to boost their profits. The cement industry is also highly hazardous and accounts for hundreds of deaths in worksite accidents, and thousands of workers in the sector contract occupational diseases each year. The heavy use of outsourcing is also largely responsible for the lack of coherent management of hazards at work.

Precarious work in the sectors organised by the BWI affiliates is being paid for by workers with their health and their lives. Thus, the BWI supports IWMD campaign actions taken by affiliates on the need to prevent the loss of lives in these sectors. For example, affiliates active on our Lafarge Holcim campaign are likely to protest together on worker deaths at the company and outsourcing which is a contributing factor. Also, the BWI Youth Committee is organising its IWMD campaign under the sub theme “Life before Profit”.

The BWI also supports continued campaign actions on our longstanding Ban Asbestos campaign; meanwhile, two million tons of chrysotile asbestos is being put into the built environment every year – guaranteeing a deadly legacy for building workers and the public.

We encourage all IWMD campaign actions by affiliates to be shared with the BWI. Please send photos, statements/messages and videos to info@bwint.org

The BWI has put together seven-point 28 April 2020 action list  that affiliates can consider which we will be able to incorporate under our global campaign theme. We suggest that campaign actions are carried out between 20 to 28 April 2020.

BWI has developed posters that can be printed and shared online in various languages

Global: Graphic – Protect workers! Stop Covid-19 | BWI

Global: Право отказаться | IndustriALL

Материал Глобального союза IndustriALL о праве отказаться или приостановить выполнение работы, которая угрожает жизни и здоровью.

http://www.industriall-union.org/ru/pravo-otkazatsya

Global: El derecho a decir que no | IndustriALL

Publicación de IndustriALL Global Union sobre el derecho a rechazar o detener el trabajo inseguro.

http://www.industriall-union.org/es/el-derecho-a-decir-que-no

Global: The right to refuse | IndustriALL

IndustriALL Global Union’s publication on the right to refuse or to shut down unsafe work.

http://www.industriall-union.org/right-to-refuse

Global: Thinking inside the box on 28 April

ITF’s Paddy Crumlin highlights the Container Safety Now campaign on International Workers’  Memorial Day. more

Global: ¡Diez áreas de acción para el 28 de Abril!

Los sindicatos de la ICM es movilizarán alrededor del Día Internacional de homenaje a los todos los trabajadores (as) que han sufrido accidentes, lesiones y muertes por motivo de sus labores diarias de trabajo – 28 de abril de 2015. Sabemos que los sindicatos hacen el trabajo más seguro. Al tener una fuerte representación en el lugar de trabajo, con representantes de seguridad de los sindicatos, podemos asegurarnos de que los empleadores cumplan con las leyes y reglamentos de seguridad y traten a la fuerza de trabajo con respeto. Esta es la máxima prioridad para nuestro Manifiesto de Salud y Seguridad 2015.

http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=6143&Language=ES