Best put the kettle on for this one.
To: All Branches, Regional Health and Safety Forums, Safety Representatives and Regional Secretaries
Dear Colleagues,
Workers Memorial Day - Monday 28 April 2008:
International Workers Memorial Day: Remember the Dead - Fight For The Living - 28th April every year - The Global Union Campaign Day for Safer, Healthier, better work
2008 Workers Memorial Day (WMD) Theme
It's time to start gearing up for the biggest event on the union safety calendar, Workers' Memorial Day, on 28 April. This year's Workers' Memorial Day theme is 'GOOD OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH FOR ALL WORKERS'.
The purpose behind Workers' Memorial Day has always been to "remember the dead: fight for the living" and Unions are asked to focus on both areas, by considering memorials to all those killed through work but at the same time ensuring that such tragedies are not repeated. That can best be done through strong trade union organisation, campaigning for stricter enforcement of health and safety laws by the HSE and Local Authorities and campaigning for the government and courts to introduce higher penalties for breaches of health & safety laws and making Directors and Senior Managers responsible and accountable in law.
Every year more people are killed at work than in wars. Most do not die of mystery ailments, or in tragic "accidents". They die because an employer decided their safety just was not that important a priority. Workers' Memorial Day commemorates those workers. All over the world workers and their representatives conduct events, demonstrations, vigils and a whole host of other activities to mark the day.
CWU WMD Posters
The Health, Safety & Environment Department has once again prepared a special CWU Workers Memorial Day (WMD) Poster for distribution to All Branches, Regional Health and Safety Forums and Regional Secretaries.
The Health, Safety & Environment Department will be sending each Branch, Regional Health and Safety Forum and Regional Secretary copies of the CWU's 2008 Workers Memorial Day Poster. Can Safety Reps please ensure that the Posters are widely circulated and placed on all Union Notice Boards in all Offices and Depots.
TUC WMD Posters
1000 TUC Workers Memorial Day Posters have been received from TUC HQ and will also be circulated.
London Hazards Centre WMD Event Poster and Fact Sheet
London Hazards Centre have produced a combined special Poster and "Fact Sheet" and these have been distributed to the London, Eastern and South Eastern Regional Health and Safety Forum in order to maximise support for the London event which we are supporting and have been involved in this years organising committee. The day's events start with a gathering at 10.30am in Holland Street, London SE1 beside the Tate Modern on South Bank of River Thames. The march then moves of at 10.45am to the Health and Safety Executive's HQ, Rose Court in Southwark Street for a rally with speakers. The march then continues on to City Hall for a rally with speakers including Trade Unions, campaigners and families of those killed at work.
Hazards Magazine WMD Special Edition
The CWU Health, Safety & Environment Department are nationally affiliated to Hazards and we have once again, as in past years, placed a half-page CWU WMD add in the Hazards Magazine WMD Special Edition.
Hazards Magazine, winner Work Foundation's Workworld Media Award and journalism for top quality UK journalism in 2007 ceremony held at Bafta in London, is once again producing a Special WMD Edition of it's excellent publication. Why not subscribe at the special Union discount rate of £15 per year instead of the normal £28. Contact: Jawad Qasrawi, Tel: 0114 201 4265. Hazards, PO Box 4042, Sheffield S8 9RL. email: sub@hazards.org. web: www.hazards.org.
Hazards Magazine's special *Workers' Memorial Day* website resourse pages can be found at: http://www.hazards.org/wmd/
"Forget me Knot" Ribbons plus Stickers & Posters (Greater Manchester Hazards Centre)
"Forget me Knot" ribbons can be ordered direct from the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre at 30p each or £25 per 100 and bumper stickers (£1 each). You can get your posters (free), from:
Greater Manchester Hazards Centre
Windrush Millennium Centre
70 AlexandraRoad
Manchester M16 7WD
Tel:0161 636 7557
Fax: 0161 636 7556
e-mail: mail@gmhazards.org.uk
Order Form for ribbons can be downloaded at: http://www.gmhazards.org.uk/wmdribbonof.doc
Order Form for Stickers can be downloaded at:http://www.gmhazards.org.uk/wmdstof.doc
Order Form for "Free Posters" can be downloaded at:http://www.gmhazards.org.uk/wmd%20poster%202007.pdf
What you can you do on WMD Moday 28 April?
Make Contact and find out what other local trade unions and their Branches are doing on WMD, contact Safety Reps from other Unions, contact your local Hazards group, or your local Trades Council or regional TUC to find out what they are planning to do on WMD and then get as many CWU Reps and members to take part as possible and join in with organising a joint event. Work with other Unions and Trades Councils in your area - find out what others have planned as early as possible and work to make it a big event.
Safety Reps get together through the Regional Health and Safety Forums to plan for the day.
Get local management to allow some form of recognition of the day, such as one minute's silence to remember anyone who has died at your workplace.
Ask your local council, or any other public body to become involved, fly official flags at half-mast on the day; and/or
Write a letter to the local press;
Write to local MPs about formal recognition of WMD as in 14 other countries (the Officer has written to the Prime Minister for the last three years on this and in 2005 the then Secretary of State for Work Alan Johnson stated "I am pleased to offer support for the many memorial services and ceremonies that are taking place today on International Workers Memorial Day");
Organise a Safety Information Event in a specific workplace;
Organise a local meeting on health and safety and the need for more corporate accountability, HSE Inspection and enforcement, HSE resources and improved rights for Safety Reps.
Invite your MP or Council Leader or a HSE spokesperson or HSE Inspectors Union Rep to speak at your WMD event;
You could focus on a particular issues of concern in your workplaces, such as working conditions, manual handling, working at height, violence, lone working, occupational health, risk assessment et;
Arrange an event such as a Rally, Meeting, March, planting a memorial tree in a public place, putting up a plaque, dedicating a sculpture, a piece of art, or a bench, to remember workers who have been killed at the workplace or in the community;
Ask local religious centres to include Workers' Memorial Day in their worship during the Week;
Distribute purple 'forget-me-not' ribbons (the symbol of Workers Memorial Day), car stickers and leaflets telling workers about the day;
If you are organising or participating in an event for Workers Memorial Day then please send the Health, Safety & Environment Department the details.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
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Workers Memorial Day - UK Government response and support for 2007 Petition asking for the official recognition of 28 April, Workers' Memorial Day.
As reported in LTBs 313/07 and 647/07, Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) last year launched a petition with CWU support asking the UK government to give official recognition to 28 April, Workers' Memorial Day. The Petition stated:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Declare International Workers Memorial Day on 28th April a National day of mourning."
Details of Petition:
"1600 people die each year in UK while doing their job and 20000 die from work related diseases. The country should remember them on this day, as they do in other countries and by doing so reduce this slaughter."
Nearly 1500 people signed the petition and the Government issued the following response to the petition:-
The Government supports the aims of International Workers' Memorial Day. It is important that we remember those who have needlessly died, been injured or made ill by work. As suggested, the opportunity to reflect can help strengthen our resolve to reduce risks and protect people from injury in the workplace.
International Workers' Memorial Day plays a part in raising awareness of workplace health and safety. However, it is important to focus on the successes of sensible health and safety management in protecting people at work. This should be something we do all year round.
The Government plays its part through the delivery of the Health and Safety Commission's "Strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond." We want to ensure that health and safety becomes seen as a cornerstone of a civilised society.
Although there are no plans for the Government to declare International Workers' Memorial Day as a national day of mourning, we encourage the trade union movement to continue to raise public awareness of the day and so give it the recognition in the public consciousness that it deserves. Lord McKenzie, the Health and Safety Minister marked this year's International Workers' Memorial Day by attending a ceremony to mark the tragic death of two local people, killed when a crane collapsed in Battersea.
The Health and Safety Executive have also supported the day, and this year marked it by planting a tree in memory of those who have lost their lives or been injured at work.
I hope that I have reassured you that the Government supports the aims of International Workers' Memorial Day and takes the issue of workplace health and safety seriously.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
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Workers Memorial Day - Message From the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an international campaign to promote safe, healthy, and decent work. This year, as in previous years, tripartite events will be taking place world wide. You are invited to join us in promoting this important day.
People everywhere are exposed to safety and health risks from their work. The ILO estimates that some 6,000 workers die each day worldwide as a result of work-related accidents or illness. Occupationally related deaths appear to be on the rise. Moreover, each year there are an estimated 270 million non-fatal work-related accidents (each resulting in at least three days' absence from work) as well as 160 million new cases of work-related diseases. The total cost of such accidents and ill health have been estimated by the ILO to equal 4 per cent of global GDP, or more than 20 times the global amount of official development assistance.
Occupational safety and health is of worldwide concern to governments, employers, workers and their families. While some industries are inherently more hazardous than others, groups such as migrant or other marginalized workers are often more at risk of experiencing work-related accidents.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
