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memorial to more than 100 London transport workers who died with covid was unveiled by Mayor Sadiq Khan on Wednesday 26th April 2023, reports the Evening Standard newspaper. Read the full story here
An outdoor space for remembrance and contemplation was constructed in Vera Page Park in St Helens in 2019, with the intention that each year on 28th April International Workers Memorial Day; a service of remembrance will be held. The statue was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of St Helens Councillor Pat Ireland, in front of a gathering who came to pay their respects. In addition the charity had provided a public access defibrillator available 24 hours, even days a week; all year round. This should help to save lives. See the charities website for more details here
The Tunnel was opened on Wednesday, July 18 1934, and named the Queensway Tunnel. Both King George and Queen Mary attended the opening of the road tunnel at the Liverpool entrance. Sadly, a round 17 people lost their lives building it. In 2021 a second plaque, this time dedicated to ALL workers who have died on Merseyside due to their work; was unvieled. Due to Covid, it wasn't until 2022 that it was finally positioned at its resting place, to the left of the Mersey Tunnel memorial.
Speaking at his final Health and Safety campaign when attending the IWMD 2019 meeting in St Nicholas Church at the bottom of Chapel Street, Tony Mulhearn said, “Those who put profit above worker safety, should never go unchallenged!” In Cardiff in Wales, at the Unite Union building there is a dedicated plaque of stone to those killed by their work. 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. International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) commemorates those workers.
It is certainly true that a unionised workplace is safer and that injuries and deaths are cut by at least 50% in such businesses. However, when looking at the official statistics, it must be remembered that the HSE does not count work-related suicides, or those occurring whilst a worker is travelling to work or for work. The full extent of work-related deaths remains unknown, although Hazards Campaign reckons the true figure of deaths and injuries caused by work is in the figure of over 50,000 killed by work yearly, rates significantly higher than HSE estimates.
The memorial is located in Bathgate Sports Park, below which lies the remains of Balbardie Colliery, where on Tuesday 19 February 1895 a boiler explosion killed Richard Biswick, a fireman employed by the owners (Henry Walker and Cameron) and Robert Strickland, a tramp who happened to be in one of the fire holes when the boiler exploded. In 1992 an International Workers Day Memorial was commissioned by the Lothian Federation of Trades Councils. Since when every April 28th a special ceremony is held to Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living. All around the UK such memorials can be found, and this has been just a few of them. In some cities around the country, public buildings/landmarks will be lit up as we remember the dead, Fight for the living on 28th April 2023.
Please send in your pics of the buildings lit up in purple where you live. Send to: Chris Ingram, Editor
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At least 102 people who were working for Transport for London, the capital’s bus companies that operate TfL routes or as black taxi or minicab drivers, lost their lives between March 2020 and October 2021. 
In St Helens, The Workers Memorial Foundation was set up to raise the funds required to commission a memorial to commemorate workers who have died because of the the work they do. 
Again on Merseyside, a plaque dedicated to those who lost their lives whilst working on the 1st Mersey Tunnel connecting Liverpool with Birkenhead, can be seen on the East Side Plaza of the Old George's Dock Building on The Strand. 
It is the very first International Workers Memorial Day commemorative stone plaque on Merseyside, and furthermore, its significance is made even more pertinent by the fact it quotes the words of one of Liverpool’s greatest Trade Unionists who fought all his working life for rights of workers to have safe and healthy workplaces and working conditions of employment.
The Wales TUC arrange a short ceremony of remembrance on 28th April each year to 'Remember the Dead. Fight for the living.' 
In Bathgate, Scotland, a dedicated area including a stone and metal memorial sculpture is a site where workers and relatives of those killed by work, gather to lay flowers and wreaths at its foot. 
