International Workers Memorial Day Edinburgh 28 April 2011

The Edinburgh event took place at 12 O'clock on 28 April 2011 at the Memorial Tree, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh. (More about Workers Memorial Day)

Wreaths at memorial tree and plaque

Protest in Harmony choir

John Stevenson addresses the event

Reps from UNISON, Propsect, NUJ, Unite, Edinburgh and District TUC, Families Against Corporate Killers and many others wait to lay their wreaths. Photos by Tom Connolly

Speech by John Stevenson, Branch President

20,000 people die prematurely every year because of work related injury or disease. Another 1.2 million say they suffered illness that they thought was due to their work.

Many of them still come to work, despite their illness.

Another million who have left work say they have ill-health because of their work - still suffering in retirement.

70% of workplace accidents have been shown to be down to poor management of health and safety.

And the government says health and safety regulations are just 'red tape'.

Unnecessary rules that get in the way of the business of making money.

Lord Young couldn't have been clearer in his report the other week about the government's aim: 'The aim is to free businesses from unnecessary bureaucratic burdens and the fear of having to pay out unjustified damages claims and legal fees'.

A recent Institute for Employment Rights briefing explodes these claims that businesses are over-regulated. Instead the evidence points to the opposite:

"In fact", they say, "The collapse in inspection, investigation and enforcement has dramatically reduced the chances of businesses being detected and prosecuted for committing safety offences".

Prosecution and the chance that you might have to pay damages is one of the few things that focuses the corporate mind on health and safety. Without that, regulations are toothless.

And it gets worse. As the Scottish affairs committee met in Aberdeen earlier this month to launch an inquiry into health and safety in Scotland and the higher number of injuries at work here - it emerged that the coalition's cuts could mean that the Scottish Health and Safety Executive losing up to 35 per cent of its current funding.

And the detractors have the corporate media on their side. A media that publicises ridiculous and invented stories about 'health and safety gone mad'.

These false stories have a purpose - and the purpose is to soften up the public for attacks on laws that protect workers' lives.

We need to tackle the myth that health and safety is 'red tape'.

And that will be all the more important as spending cuts begin to bite.

As the protective services provided by local authorities are cut - as proactive checks that protect public health and public safety are reduced.

In the City of Edinburgh Council, in councils across the country, in the Health Service, Universities and Colleges, in police and fire services, we negotiate and we take action to avoid compulsory redundancies.

But whether a redundancy is voluntary or compulsory - a job still goes. And what happens to those who are left behind?

If the need for the service hasn't gone away, how do you manage without the people to provide the service?

All too often you manage by piling more and more work - and more and more stress on the workers who are left.

The TUC reckons that over a quarter of public sector workers work 'extreme overtime'. Mostly unpaid. Contributing £27 billion to the economy - a fact ignored when employers moan about sickness absence levels.

Do they never ask themselves why they have a sickness absence problem instead of just putting more and more punitive measures in place?

Does it never cross their minds that they are pushing people too far?

That extra work and those extra pressures bring their own hazards. Workplace bullying, lone working, unsafe manual handling, repetitive strain injuries (RSI), and stress.

Other work just won't get done, corners will be cut and the first to suffer will be safe working practices.

And as the public get more and more frustrated about the services they can't get, it's our members in the front line that take the flack.

UNISON's 2010 survey of violence at work showed an increase of over 3,000 assaults on public service workers over the year.

More than 28,000 assaults on staff.

And some public authorities still don't keep figures that truly reflect the problem.

Until employers are properly held to account - it will always be someone else's fault and the front line worker will be the one to suffer.

That's one of the reasons I've been proud to be part of a UNISON Scotland guide for social work staff on 'Keeping Safe in the Workplace'.

A guide that urges workers to take responsibility for their safety, their colleagues' safety and their services users' safety.

But most of all it demands that employers take their responsibility for their duties under the codes of conduct.

We stand today to remember the dead. But as it has always been on this day, we are also here to fight for the living.

Surely there is nothing more obscene than profits, cuts and financial or political fortunes being built on the back of pain, suffering, the destruction of lives and the shattering of families' hopes.

That fight has never been more important.

It is time for us to rethink how we organise to fight with and for our people in the face of such an onslaught.

23 October in Edinburgh showed we can mobilise. London on 26 March took it to a new level. They both showed we are not alone. There are millions of us with shared values.

And one of the most basic values is to be safe at your work. We now need to take the next step. Organising, lobbying, demonstrating and, yes, taking action together across unions where we can.

Because if we don't, we will not just lose a generation of progress on health and safety - but a lot more lives and hopes.

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International Workers Memorial Day 2011

UNISON will provide a speaker at this event. The organisers of the event have asked Edinburgh City Council to lower the flags on Council Buildings as a mark of respect and have invited the Lord Provost to attend on their behalf.

UNISON will ask them to mark the event on The Orb and invite staff to observe the minute's silence.

Remember the Dead, Fight for the Living is the slogan for International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD).

The purpose of the day is two-fold. It's about not forgetting those who have been needlessly killed, injured, or made ill by their work.

It's also about using this human tragedy to strengthen the campaign for safe and healthy work.

The demand for safe and healthy work will become more important as cuts bite. Staff remaining in post will be expected to do more work increasing the risk of various hazards including: workplace bullying, lone working, manual handling, repetitive strain injuries (RSI), and stress. Other work won't get done, which at first may not be noticed, but will lead to greater risks such as worse and increasingly dangerous or unhealthy workplaces.

MINUTES' SILENCE

At midday on Thursday 28 April 2011 UNISON members and many others across the UK will take part in a minutes' silence.

During that minute we will remember those members and workers injured, made ill, or killed by their work. Whether you plan something else or not, join in the minutes' silence at midday - make this IWMD even more "remembered" than the last.

Ask your manager to allow all staff to take part in a minutes' silence whilst at work.

BACKGROUND TO IWMD

Far too many workers and their families suffer each and every year. The figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and which make the headlines, never tell the full story.

It is estimated that work incidents are the cause of up to 1,600 deaths each year; including deaths to members of the public, work-related suicide, and road traffic accidents whilst driving for work.

On top of this, it is estimated that there are up to 50,000 deaths from work-related illnesses; including cancers, respiratory illnesses, and heart disease.

WHAT IS UNISON CALLING FOR?

Society no-longer finds drink-driving or domestic violence acceptable. It's time for work-related ill-health, injury, and death to also become unacceptable rather than a tragic but accepted part of the world of work.

The HSE has in the past stated that about 70% of workplace "accidents" are due to the poor management of Health and Safety.

However, spending cuts risk increasing exposure to poor workplace health and safety. It is therefore important to fight for the living by ensuring that IWMD 2011 is used to campaign, organise, and recruit on health and safety at branch level. Unions make work safer, and make it most safe when there is a large, active, and involved membership.

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Worker's Memorial Day - 28th April
Remember the dead, fight for the living

On 28 April each year, trade unions around the world take action to remember all those who have been killed, injured or had their health destroyed by their work.Workers also renew their commitment to fight for better standards at work.

The Branch has for many years supported the Edinburgh event by laying a wreath. This year's commemoration takes place on 28 April at 12.30 at the Workers Memorial tree in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh. Members are urged to attend and continue to build this into a major event.
(The tree is on the lower level of the gardens between the floral clock entrance and the Ross bandstand).

Remember the Dead: Fight for the Living

The campaign slogan for WMD is "remember the dead: fight for the living" and branches should try to focus on both areas, e.g.:

Remember the Dead - plan an event or monument to remember all those killed at and by work who are not publicly remembered in any other way; and

Fight for the Living - campaign for more and stricter enforcement, higher penalties for health and safety breaches, more inspectors at the HSE and in local authorities, a new law of corporate killing to make it easier to prosecute negligent employers, new legal health and safety duties on directors, and more rights and powers for safety reps such as PINs and roving reps.

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