Tag Archives: 28 april

28 April: Remember the dead fight for the living – Hazards Campaign

Hazards Campaign news release 27 April 2020

Tuesday 28 April is International Workers Memorial Day #IWMD20

Remember the Dead Fight for the Living

Fighting for hearts and minds of all workers

Every year on 28 April all over the world trade unions, workers, families mark International Workers Memorial Day because work still hurts, makes ill and kills millions globally every year, and over 50,000 in this country, 140 a day before the pandemic arrived to make things worse. Bad jobs can break your heart, leaving us HEARTBROKEN. Whether the threat at work is another new virus, dangerous substances or heart-breaking demands, your life should not be on the line. Unions can make it better.

The Hazards Campaign brought Workers Memorial Day to the UK in 1990s with twin aims, to Remember the Dead but also to Fight for the Living and has marked it every year since then. This year as Coronavirus rages through the world it is more necessary than ever to honour both those aims so no more workers will die needlessly.

We will remember all those low paid, insecure and exploited workers who are now recognised as essential: NHS workers, social care workers, cleaners, bus drivers, delivery drivers, taxi uber and other transport workers, food chain workers, cleaners, supermarket and other shop workers, postal, education, civil servants, border and prison guards, social & call centre workers etc.

Unions and workers are organising, fighting back and winning sick pay, site closures, pay for all laid off workers and PPE.

There will be action all across the UK, online meetings and physically distanced outdoor meetings and demos in essential workplaces, and #CoronavirusWalkouts in the UK and across the world

Hazards Campaign supports the 11am one minutes silence

to Remember the Dead – those dying from Covid19 and all work hazards.   At home hold up a Heartbroken poster, stand by your door, gate or in the street. At work hold a safe physically distanced outdoor vigil.

In Fighting for the Living, we call for Government and employers to ‘Stop the pandemic at work’ by:

Closing all non-essential workplaces

Paying every worker living wage, liveable sick pay from day 1 to #StayHomeSaveNHSSaveLives

Providing correct PPE for all essential workers #PPENow #NoKitNoCare

No release from ‘lockdown’ or any return to work unless based on highest level of precaution, prevention and protection of all workers.

Testing, tracing and quarantining

The Covid pandemic has made clear that workers health is public health. Workers health is public health, if the workforce is not protected then the public cannot be protected in a pandemic. We need good workplace health and safety to prevent work-related Covid infections, deaths or transmission, and any other preventable work-related illnesses, injuries or deaths either.  See Hazards Campaign Full #IWMD20 Briefing  FACK Statement for #IWMD20

The Hazards Campaign has worked with Greater Manchester Hazards Centre and Families Against Corporate Killers to produce three  new #IWMD20 films: Lean on Me – Families against corporate killers supporting families of those killed at work, and.

Hazards Campaigner talking about IWMD means to them. Fallen tears https://youtu.be/HdXlCUM9IBI

Manchester IWMD20 Zoom Meeting 12 noon https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10222588758448393&set=gm.3224181100960432&type=3&theater&ifg=1

For more information contact Janet Newsham 077343 17158  or Hilda Palmer 0161 792 1044  079298 0024,

Notes:

Hazard Campaign Call to Action, Posters, Social media graphics and full Briefing: http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/

The Whole Story – real figures on total deaths at work  http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/thewholestory.pdf

TUC RISKs newsletter summary of Trade Union Action on IWMD 28 April
https://www..tuc.org.uk/news/risks-944-22-april-2020

Hazards Magazine Issue 149 Exposed  http://www.hazards.org/index.htm

FACK Statement for #IWMD20 http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/blog/28-april-fack-statement-if-you-do-not-protect-the-workforce-in-a-pandemic-you-do-not-protect-the-public

Hazards Campaign Windrush Millennium Centre 70 Alexandra Road Manchester M16 7WD

content/uploads/2018/08/thewholestory.pdf

TUC RISKs newsletter summary of Trade Union Action on IWMD 28 April
https://www..tuc.org.uk/news/risks-944-22-april-2020

Hazards Magazine Issue 149 Exposed  http://www.hazards.org/index.htm

FACK Statement for #IWMD20 http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/blog/28-april-fack-statement-if-you-do-not-protect-the-workforce-in-a-pandemic-you-do-not-protect-the-public

Hazards Campaign Windrush Millennium Centre 70 Alexandra Road Manchester M16 7WD

28 April: Hazards Campaign call to action

Workers’ Memorial Day 2020

Normal public events for April 28th won’t be possible because of measures to contain Coronavirus/Covid-19. But marking International Workers’ Memorial Day has never been more important for workers’ lives and health and those of our families and communities.

Some workplace events may still go ahead but we are taking #IWMD20 online, developing a social media campaign that we want everyone to join in. This will keep the day and its perennial aims on the public and political agenda with the twin slogans to ‘Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living’. This year’s international theme has been changed by ITUC to ‘Stop the Pandemic at work’.

The Hazards Campaign is going ahead with: ‘Unions fighting for hearts and minds’ incorporating the fight against Coronavirus.

Hazards Campaign – Final briefing and call to action document

  1. WINDOW DISPLAYS Put up a Heartbroken poster – order or print one off- make a window display! See below.
  2. POST SELFIES Post a selfie with Heartbroken poster, or your window poster display, add a message, post on social media #IWMD20 or send to us
  3. ORGANISE A MEETING Organise a meeting – on-line or in the workplace if it can be done safely.
  4. USE OUR FIGURES NOT HSE’S Use ‘The Whole Story’ on death caused by work not HSE partial statistics [Updated April 2020]
  5. MAPPING ACTION Mapping #IWMD20: tell us what you are doing and about workers memorials near you and we will map them.
  6. CAMPAIGN ON SOCIAL MEDIA Create a huge wave of #IWMD20 tweets and posts on social media – download sample graphics here
  7. HAZARDS FILM Watch and send out the Hazards Campaign Film for #IWMD20 ‘Fighting for Hearts and Minds – forthcoming.
  8. LIGHT A CANDLE Light a candle in the window on 28th at 9pm to remember all workers killed by #COVID and other work hazards – but be safe.
  9. MEMORIALS ONLINE Online memorials—post photos and details of those killed at and by work to us or direct to Twitter and Facebook.
  10. GLOBAL SOLIDARITY Use the #IWMD20 for national and international solidarity with our union colleagues all across the world. And check out the ITUC/Hazards magazine global hub for international activities.

Resources to print out for your window display 

Hazards Campaign: 28 April social media campaigning graphics

As a part of our International Workers’ Memorial Day 2020 call to action the Hazards Campaign has produced a series of social media graphics (below) for you to share in your networks. Flood Twitter, Facebook  and the other social networks with these images and remember to include the hashtag #iwmd20, #covid19 and @hazardscampaign

Sample graphics scaled for Facebook

 

Sample graphics scaled for Twitter

Hazards Campaign Workers’ Memorial Day 2019 posters

The Hazards Campaign, in conjunction with Hazards Magazine, has produced two striking International Workers’ Memorial Day 2019 posters. They are available in A4 and A3 sizes from the Campaign. Posters are free but postage will need to be paid on larger orders.  Order here. 

They can viewed on the Hazards magazine website at higher resolution. Poster 1 and Poster 2

Posters are free but  postage will need to be paid on larger orders. As a guide 25 x A4 posters OR 12 x A3 posters will cost £1.50 first class postage. Call us for a price: 0161 636 7558

Send Order to: Hazards Campaign, c/o GMHC, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD
or janet@gmhazards.org.uk

UK: FACK Statement – International Workers’ Memorial Day 28 April 2018 #IWMD18

FACK Statement – International Workers’ Memorial Day 28 April 2018 #IWMD18

“I don’t know where to begin.  So I’ll start by saying I refuse to forget you.  I refuse to be silenced.  I refuse to neglect you.”

These words are “for every last soul” who perished at Grenfell, and are spoken by Stormzy at the start of the Artists for Grenfell single.  They could just as easily have been spoken by FACK families.

We will never forget our lost loved ones and ask that you don’t either.  Instead, in their memories, devote your energies to fighting for the living.

We continue to refuse to be silenced.  Instead we use our voices to increase a chorus of disapproval aimed at seeking an end to this era of de-regulation, in which health and safety protections have been undermined and preventative enforcement has been slashed. 1

We want the chorus of disapproval to reach a crescendo.

Because each and every day here in the UK a lack of good health and safety continues to lead to the deaths of 140 people in work-related incidents or because of work-related illness.  The equivalent of 2 Grenfell towers…daily.  2

Let that sink in for a moment.

Opening and closing with the vision of the charred tower block, the music video which accompanies the Grenfell single can’t fail to touch hearts.

And all too often, it is music which evokes memories to tear at a FACK family’s heart, just as a line from the Verve’s “The Drugs Don’t Work” does for Samuel Adams’ mum: “But I know I will see your face again”.  Sam was 6-yrs-old when he went for a family day out to the Trafford Shopping Centre and his face was only to continue to be seen in photos and preciously held memories.

Frankie Miller singing “Let me tell you that I love you, that I think about you all time” transports 26-yr-old Michael Adamson’s family and friends back to the devastation of the walk from the crematorium.

Welsh hymn Gwahoddiad is the one guaranteed to reduce Andrew Hutin’s parents to tears, the one that raised the roof of the chapel at the funeral of a young man who had only recently turned 20 when a tidal wave of molten metal exploded from a blast furnace.

How do you begin to choose the songs for your 18 year old son’s funeral?  FACK families’ intention is that you never have to.  But Mick and Bet Murphy did, guided by those that were among Lewis’ favourites at the time of his death.  A song called “Crossroads” taking on particular poignancy, containing lyrics such as: “Hey, can somebody anybody tell me why we die, we die? I don’t wanna die. Ohhh so wrong.”

Fundamentally wrong that these young men were taken from their families, denied the opportunity to live their lives.  And why?  Because still far too often health and safety is wrongly seen as a burden, red tape, a tiresome impediment to getting a job done, or a costly barrier to making a profit.

There are those whose praises FACK families sing.  Among them:

  • The firefighters whose emotions overwhelmed them on being clapped and cheered by the local community at Grenfell – that community knowing they had done all they could, and more, to save lives.
  • Those who have had the courage to speak out about perils faced by themselves and their colleagues, finding themselves blacklisted as a result.
  • Those who work in our Hazards Centres – in Manchester, London and Glasgow – seeking to prevent work-related harm, committed to improving workplace health and safety.
  • And trade unions safety reps whose life-saving work often goes unnoticed, but whose work needs to be celebrated and built upon. Because, let’s be clear: a union workplace is a safer workplace.

These are the people who prevent injury, illness and death; who prevent suffering and the consequent need for a soundtrack to tears.  They are the ones with whom we must ensure chords are struck.

Because, yes, perhaps a song brings into firm focus a happy moment caught in time…running bare foot from a tent at a bike rally in Edinburgh on hearing Born Slippy by Underworld, Graham and Karen to be the only ones dancing and grinning in the rain.

But Natalie, Dionne, Sharon…they are among those who’d “love, love, love to dance with their fathers again”, who are destined to do so only in dreams.

The dreams and the plans that had been hatched by Linzi and Herbie during long nights spent listening to The Rock from The Who’s Quadrophenia, were not to become reality.

Instead, in the aftermath, songs that filled the void “at the dimming of the day” bring into dark focus the utter desolation.

Just what would Dorothy and Douglas give to hear Mark belting out again: “I gotta take a little time…In case I need it when I’m older”.  He wasn’t to get any older than the age of 37.

Another of his favourites was “I want to live forever”.

We know that no-one lives forever.  But, work should be life-changing in a positive way.  It should never ever be life-ending.

So we intend to continue to build a legacy for our loved ones, that will live on forever through improved protections that keep your family members safe and healthy

FACK facilitator Hilda Palmer has quite rightly described Grenfell as an “Enough is Enough” moment.  And the death of each of our loved ones was our own personal enough is enough moment.

Let us repeat: lack of good health and safety leads to loss of life equivalent to two Grenfell towers each and every day in this country.

Enough is surely enough!    By Louise Taggart Founder FACK member, sister of Michael Adamson.

References:

Hazards Campaign Briefing for #IWMD18

Michael’s Story: Louise Taggart’s blog about her brother Michael who went to work and was killed by employer’s negligence. Video

We Love Red Tape

The Whole Story about work-related death :

FACK was established in July 2006, by and for families of people killed by the gross negligence of business employers, see www.fack.org.uk .

Founder Members of FACK:

Dawn and Paul Adams son Samuel Adams aged 6 killed at Trafford Centre,10th October 1998

Linzi Herbertsonhusband Andrew Herbertson 29, killed at work in January 1998

Mike and Lynne Hutin son Andrew Hutin 20, killed at work on 8th Nov 2001

Mick & Bet Murphyson Lewis Murphy 18, killed at work on 21st February 2004

Louise Taggart brother Michael Adamson 26, killed at work on 4th August 2005

Linda Whelanson Craig Whelan 23, (and Paul Wakefield) killed at work on 23rd May 2002

Dorothy & Douglas Wrightson Mark Wright 37, killed at work on 13th April 2005

For more information and to support FACK, contact Hilda Palmer, Facilitator for FACK: Tel 0161 636 7557

c/o Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD Tel 0161 636 7557
mail@gmhazards.org.uk  www.fack.org.uk