Today, all around the world, Trade Unions and families are putting time aside to remember those who have lost their lives at work.

The CWU, along with all the UK's Trade Unions acknowledge through International Workers Memorial Day on 28th April every year. The CWU Health and Safety Dept have issued a IWMD Special pamphlet avialable to all members and activitists in the union. The pamphlet details the issues around death at work and the appalling toll on life due to employers who put profits before the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

The paphlet cotains a lot of information with regard to the theme of this year's Workers Memorial Day (WMD), removing exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace, gives the history behind WMD memorial day, provides statistics of deaths at work; and discusses the health and safety attacks made by this present government, resulting in abolition and watering down of some 80% of health and safety legislation.

In the pamphlet Dave Joyce, National Health Safety and Environmental Officer for the CWU discusses the background towhich International Workers Memorial Day takes place annually around the world on April 28 every year.

On this day, the CWU along with other Unions across the World remember those workers, especially CWU members, who have died at work. Trade unionists around the world join together to mark this day of mourning.

This worldwide day of reflection is a day of remembrance for workers killed, injured or made ill by their work was designated to honour the workers who have died at work of occupational injuries or illnesses and those injured or made ill by work every year.

It is also a day on which workers call for safer workplaces and working conditions. The Workers Memorial Day purpose and slogan behind Workers Memorial Day is “Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living”.

Workers’ Memorial Day is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace accidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisation in the fight for improvements in workplace safety.

The TUC, all UK Trade Unions along with those in Europe and across the World will be focusing on these areas, by considering commemoration events or memorials to remember all those killed through work but at the same time committing to fight to ensure that such tragedies are not repeated.

That can best be done by building strong trade union organisation, representation and campaigning for stricter enforcement of safety laws and standards with higher penalties for breaches of health & safety laws. Decades of struggle by workers and their Unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions.

But the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year, 2 million workers die due to unsafe or unhealthy work and workplaces around the globe. Millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs.

Every year more people are killed at work than in wars. Most don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic “accidents”. They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn’t that important a priority. Workers’ Memorial Day
(WMD) commemorates those workers.

The TUC and CWU believe that we should use the day to highlight the need for strong regulation an national, European and global level. We need to stop companies in the UK from benefitting from the lack of health and safety standards that lead to disasters such as the Stockline Plastics factory explosion in Glasgow, killing 9 and injuring 33 and the Bangladesh factory collapse that killed over 1,100 workers.

We also need a strong strategy on health and safety from the European Commission which will raise standards throughout Europe, while in the UK we need an end to the cuts in enforcement and regulation and instead action to tackle the huge number of occupational diseases and injuries.

The complete pamphlet can be downloaded by clicking on the pics above and is also available to download from this website's E-Library Database using 'IWMD' as the keyword for your search.

Source: CWU