In September 2017, the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) warned that “work-related fatal injuries and diseases have increased from 2.3 million to 2.78 million per year.”

But Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the global union confederation ITUC, has warned these figures “are a gross under-estimate. ‘Accidents’ at work – even fatal ones – frequently don’t make it into the statistics, particularly if a person dies a lingering death. And occupational diseases figures only tell us what we know – not the deaths whose work-related origins are missed or mis-attributed to other causes or that go unrecognised by an unreal official refusal to recognise very real workplace associations.”

It is a global and growing public health crisis, she says. “Even in rich, industrialised countries we are seeing diseases we thought were beaten now reemerging. “A new epidemic of black lung is again casting a shadow over America’s coal belt. The fatal condition has returned to Australia.”

If it is bad in the developed world, it is a public health catastrophe in developing nations, where multinational companies are frequently guilty of a safety double standard and where absent, poor or poorly enforced regulations leave workers in jeopardy.

“It is a human and an economic disaster,” says Burrow. “The global cost of occupational diseases alone is in the trillions of dollars. All workplace deaths are avoidable. There is the knowledge, there is the technology, there just isn’t the will.”

Launching a new, coordinated global union occupational health and safety campaign, Burrow declared: “Our global safety campaign is an organising campaign. Studies show union workplaces are safer, healthier workplaces – and that is because unions have the unique combination of on-the-ground knowledge, training and a collective strength.

“We intend to maximise the impact of this life-saving union effect.”

NON-NEGOTIABLE    Hundreds of Namibian mineworkers demonstrated in January 2018 against worsening health and safety standards at the Skorpion Zinc Mine, about 600km from Windhoek, the country’s capital. The Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) members are demanding improved communication on safety issues at the mine, which is owned by Vedanta Zinc International. Paule-France Ndessomin of the global mining union IndustriALL commented: “Safety at mines is non-negotiable, and mining companies must always ensure that standards are adhered to.”

POOR VISION   Workers at Eurotec Electronics in the southern China manufacturing city of Zhongshan went on strike on 6 December 2017 in protest at dangerous working conditions. About 80 per cent of the workforce had complained of dizziness, headaches, coughing, weakness and blurred vision since the factory relocated to a new facility in September. Workers bought their own testing devices and discovered that levels of dangerous chemicals including formaldehyde were three to ten times the recommended limit. ILO estimates that worldwide 2.4 million people die each year from occupational diseases, costing the global economy of US$3 trillion.

SUICIDAL CONDITIONS A worker producing Apple’s iPhones in China died after jumping from a building on 6 January 2018. Li Ming, 31, worked for Taiwanese firm Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics subcontractor with a workforce estimated at over 1.2 million. company then faced allegations of ‘sweat shop’ conditions that led to the spate of suicides in 2010 and 2011. The latest Foxconn suicide victim was working on the Apple X smartphone, released in November 2017. Studies in the United States, Australia, France, Japan, China, India and Taiwan point to a steep rise in work-related suicides. www.hazards.org/suicide

POOR CONDITIONS Millions of people around the world work, but still live in poverty. Stefan Kühn, lead author of the February 2018 ILO report World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2018, noted: “Vulnerable employment affects three out of four workers in developing countries. Almost 1.4 billion workers are estimated to be in vulnerable employment in 2017. Every year, an additional 17 million are expected to join them.” Low pay goes hand in hand with low health and safety standards, so occupational injuries and diseases like diabetes and cancer frequently come with the job (Hazards 128).

BOGUS JOBS Global transport unions federation ITF is backing riders at food delivery company Deliveroo who took action in Belgium in January 2018. ITF future of work coordinator Mac Urata said: "What is happening to these riders in Belgium is an example of the way many so-called 'gig economy' companies are behaving. They use labour classification loopholes, such as self-employed, as an excuse to slash wages and working conditions. But they won't get away with it because workers, like in Brussels, are fighting back and demanding their rights.” Insecure work is linked to higher rates of workplace injuries, sickness and occupational diseases. www.hazards.org/insecure

WINNING WOMEN Health and safety has been a major organising focus for hotel workers’ union Unite Here in the USA. Its members have mobilised to win a succession of laws protecting hotel workers from sexual harassment and occupational injuries and diseases. www.hazards.org/women

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Why we do it

Why do union members across the globe mobilise on 28 April, demonstrating, inspecting, training and using all manner of creative means to put workplace health and safety in the spotlight? Because deaths caused by work are increasing and on Workers’ Memorial Day unions send out a message they won’t stand by and let it continue.

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28april.org

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