International Workers’ Memorial Day
28 April 2026
Intensifying the “Too Hot To Work Campaign”
From Awareness to Agreements
On 28 April, International Workers’ Memorial Day, BWI fights for the living and remembers those we have lost.
In 2026, we are intensifying our global Too Hot To Work Campaign while confronting the growing impact of extreme weather events on workers.
Heat stress is no longer a seasonal issue. It is a structural occupational hazard driven by climate change, unsafe production targets, and weak enforcement. At the same time, workers face escalating exposure to extreme weather, heatwaves, storms, floods, wildfires, and unpredictable climate conditions, which threaten their safety and lives. In 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 250,000 additional deaths would occur each year by 2030 due to climate change. In 2024, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) report said that at least 2.41 billion workers – 71 per cent of the working population – are exposed to excessive heat, resulting in 22.85 million injuries and 18,970 deaths annually.
Workers in construction, building materials, forestry, and related sectors are paying the price.
This year, our priority is clear: move from awareness to enforceable protection.
Affiliates are encouraged to push for binding commitments, including:
- Collective Bargaining Agreements with heat and climate risk clauses
- Sectoral or national framework agreements
- Legal and regulatory reforms
- Company-level heat and climate protection plans
- Joint declarations with employers
Where agreements already exist, promote them and use them as models.
Where protections are weak or absent, push for new signatures and stronger commitments.
BWI and its affiliates call for protections that guarantee:
- The right to stop work in extreme heat or dangerous weather without retaliation, through set maximum temperature limits that account for weather conditions and humidity levels.
- Paid cooling breaks and adjusted working hours
- Access to water, shade, ventilation, and protective measures appropriate to weather risks
- Mandatory heat and climate risk assessments
- Emergency preparedness and evacuation procedures
- Income protection when work is halted due to unsafe climate conditions
- Compensation and long-term support for affected workers
Heat stress is predictable. Climate risks are escalating. Deaths are preventable.
No worker should depend on goodwill. Protection must be written, signed, and enforceable.
Take Action
- Secure or strengthen agreements
- Publicise existing CBAs or joint agreements with heat and extreme weather protections
- Initiate negotiations where no protections exist
- Mobilise and train workers
- Conduct toolbox talks and training on heat stress and climate risks
- Equip safety representatives to identify climate-related hazards
- Engage governments
- Push for legally binding national standards and social protection schemes addressing heat and extreme weather risks
- Call for integrating climate protection into national OSH and adaptation policies.
Share Your Agreements & Action. Showcase union power in action.
Send BWI:
- Signed agreements
- Joint declarations
- CBA clauses
- National legal commitments
- Photos and videos from events or mobilisations
Share with your regional coordinator, and your actions will be featured on www.28april.org
Download IWMD posters.
#TooHotToWork #IWMD26 #BWI
