Workers Memorial Day 2012

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 events or memorial to remember all those killed through work but at the same time ensuring that such tragedies are not repeated. That can best be done by building trade union organisation, and campaigning for stricter enforcement with higher penalties for breaches of health & safety laws.

Workers Memorial Day is commemorated throughout the world and is officially recognised by the UK Government.

This year the TUC is calling on health and safety representatives, trades councils and safety campaigners to make 28th April a day of action to defend health and safety from the attacks on regulation, enforcement, cuts and refusal to tackle the massive toll that health and safety breaches take on workers. Our health and our safety is under attack like never before and we must defend it, for our sake and that of future generations.

This year we have a number of events planned for the North West, so far details of Blackburn, Chorley, Liverpool, Manchester and Preston are listed on the TUC web site:

http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-20489-f0.cfm#NW

We have produced a poster, leaflets and a series of four bulletins that provide more detailed briefing on Defending Regulation, the Need for Enforcement, the Threat to Compensation and Occupational disease: the Time bomb for Government that will be of value in developing our arguments with member, MPS and others and these materials can be accesses via this link:

http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/index.cfm?mins=180&minors=124&majorsubjectid=2

We have also produced a guide to lobbying MPS and to using the local media and again these can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-20489-f0.cfm

You also be aware of the invaluable work done by the Hazards Campaign nationally and for us in the NW especially by the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre and this links takes you to their web site and an extensive range of campaign resources and materials.

http://gmhazards.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/resources-for-workers-memorial-day-20122.pdf