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		Health & Safety Workers Memorial Day   See also the UNISON UK Workers Memorial Day Page Worker’s Memorial Day 28 April 2008 Remember the dead, fight for the living What is Workers Memorial Day? International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD) takes place all over the world on 28 April each year. The purpose of IWMD is two-fold. Firstly it is about not forgetting those who have died, been injured, or made ill by their work. Secondly it is about ensuring that tragic loss and suffering are used to reinvigorate the campaign for healthier and safer work. The campaign slogan is Remember the dead, Fight for the living. Click here for events in Scotland this year What is UNISON calling for? UNISON is pressing the government to recognise IWMD as a national day of remembrance for those who are killed, injured, or made ill by their work. We are also calling for MPs to support our campaign by attending local and regional events organised by UNISON, the TUC, hazards campaigners, or other trade unions. If your UNISON branch wants to plan something, a local event could include: Presentations and speeches from local MPs. Displaying UNISON's IWMD or other posters. Wearing, ordering, and distributing and distributing the purple ribbons and car stickers to members. Writing a letter to the local press about any of the campaign issues or local events. Ordering a safety reps inspection or carrying out a body mapping exercise. For more information on these, go to issue 51 of Health and Safety Organiser Organiser. Remembering any workers who have been killed at the workplace or in the community by arranging an event such as planting a memorial tree in a public place, putting up a plaque, or dedicating a sculpture. Asking religious centres to mark IWMD. Negotiating with your employer to hold one minutes silence at 12 noon. Requesting for offiicial flags on public buildings to be flown at half mast. Signing an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website - deadline Friday 11 April. This calls for work-related road traffic incidents to be reportable just like other deaths and injuries at work. What has UNISON achieved so far? On April 6 2008 the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act came into force. This makes it easier to prosecute companies and other corporate bodies (including public bodies) for manslaughter where gross failures in their management of health and safety leads to a death. This is not the end of our campaign for justice and the protection of workers from the neglidence of their employers. UNISON is also calling for additional legislation to cover directors duties. The purpose, to make it easier to send individual directors to prison where their negligence has resulted in the death of a worker. UNISON, the rest of the union movement, and hazards campaigners continue to demand new laws and enforcement strategies that treat deaths caused by employers recklessness or negligence far more seriously than at present. Secondly we seek a new way of working that guarantees a workers right to a voice and the right to a safe and healthy workplace. UNISON is also campaigning for: more enforcement of health and safety breaches, more health and safety inspectors, and more rights for safety reps. Use IWMD locally to campaign and organise around, and negotiate for better workplace health and safety. top Events in Scotland (please notify us of others) Aberdeen: Details to follow Greenock: The local trades council, unions, Inverclyde council, local politicians, and others will lay wreaths at the workers statue in Clyde Square, outside the council buildings on Monday 28th of April at 11-00 am when a minutes silence will be observed and a short service by local clergy will be held for those killed at work, or by diseases contracted at work Bathgate: West Lothian Trades Council and West Lothian Council have organised a Workers Memorial Day Seminar which will be held 9.30am for 10am start on Monday 28th April 2008 in the Bathgate Sports Centre. The seminar ends at 12pm and participants join with others at the International Workers Memorial for a short service. Clydebank: Saturday 26 April, 12:00. Clydebank TUC, International Workers Memorial Day Commemoration. Clydebank Plaza, Speakers include Ian Tasker, STUC Assistant Secretary Dundee: Friday 25 April, City Chambers, Annual Memorial Day lecture on the theme, Equality for All, Creating and Inclusive Scotland will be delivered by Mary Senior, STUC Assistant Secretary 12:30. Monday 28 April, Service at the memorial tree adjacent to Discovery Quay, no further details as yet. Edinburgh: Monday, 28 April, 12:00 – 13:00. West Princes Street Gardens, near to Ross Band Stand, Speakers include Louise Adamson, Families Against Corporate Killers, songs from Protest in Harmony. Fife: Memorial Service in Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy, 10:00. Health and Safety seminar on Health and Safety and the Corporate Manslaughter Bill, 12:00-14:00 Glasgow: Commemoration in George Square, 13:00. Speakers to be confirmed North Lanarkshire: Unveiling of North Lanarkshire Workers Memorial, Summerlee Heritage Park, Coatbridge. 12:00. Speakers include Elaine Smith MSP and Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary MidLothian: Commemoration at the commemorative memorial in George V Park, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, 12:30 top Previous WMD events Bonnyrigg: Midlothian Trade Union Council Memorial to 'working class hero' Michael McGahey unveiled Ex UNISON General Secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe unveiled a statue to mark the 10th Anniversary of Mick McGahey's address to the Midlothian TUC Worker's Memorial Day event. The Annual Memorial Day Commemoration was held at George V Park, Bonnyrigg followed by the unveiling. UNISON made a substantial donation to the memorial and, among others, was represented by Mick McGahey jnr, Matt Smith (UNISON Scottish Secretary), Agnes Petkevicius, Tom Waterson, John Stevenson and Lui Giacomello. Edinburgh, Midlothian and Lothian Health UNISON Branches laid wreaths at the Workers Memorial Day garden. Rodney described Michael McGahey as a 'working class hero'. As someone who never lost touch with his roots and socialist values. Also someone who was ardent about health and safety. This was not just about safety at work, but also about building 'economic health and safety'. He listed some of McGahey's sayings which were just as relevant today. "We are a movement not a monument", he quoted as a reminder of the need to continue to move and to fight on. "We know the reasons why Michael never became NUM President, but whether he had stayed as a steward or a delegate he would still have had a major impact on the movement", said Rodney. Tributes also came from Eric Clarke, ex NUM Scotland General Secretary. He stressed the importance of Michael's work in promoting a personal survival kit for miners that allowed them time to escape through gas. He also underlined the man's humour and pored scorn on those who may have described him as 'dour'. David Hamilton MP and ex NUM delegate praised the discipline and purpose Michael brought to representing members. He recalled at one STUC Congress that McGahey had told the miners' delegates that it was 'an honour and privilege to be representing the members' and that they were there 'on the blood and the sweat' of their members.     Health & Safety Home Who's who in Scotland Health & Safety Scottish campaigns Workers Memorial Day Health & Safety Law Tips Contact us with your query Health & Safety Links