Workers' Memorial Day 2009
It is the first year that Workers’ Memorial Day has been officially recognised. I couldn’t make Workers Memorial Day march today, first time in some years. But if you want to see the reality of deaths in the workplace (and not just in the UK but globally) see Hazards magazine . Deaths in the workplace are underestimated, along with enforcing safety in the workplace (and we also have toothless legislation as well). The bosses get away with corporate negliegence and manslaughter. It also exposes how capitalism devalues lives, how lives are expendable and that we are just cogs in a wheel who don’t matter too much. It’s bad enough already fighting the uphill struggle for justice over a death in a workplace it will get even worse if a Tory government is elected:
Rather than repairing a tottering regulator, the Tories appear intent on dismantling the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). A Conservative government would permit firms to opt-out from HSE inspections, with qualifying firms allowed to bar the watchdog from their premises.
The UK is ranked the 30 safest nation, placing it at the mid-point of the “low risk” group. Among the 30 OECD nations, the UK is ranked at a lowly 20th – although some other major OECD nations have worse still rankings, including the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
between 1880 and 1930, 8 of my ancestors died in the coal mines of southeast Ohio, far more than the number of my ancestors killed in all of this county’s wars. I imagine that if we looked into all of our family trees we would see similar things, to say nothing of the daily deaths, maiming and psychological traumas workers still experience. I’ve never seen, not once, expanding economies measured in lives lost. Every economist knows the figures of China’s quarterly GDP numbers, my guess is not one could name the number of workers who died in the same period. “Remember the dead, fight for the living”! In deed!
..and word just coming in of a roof collapse at a mine in western Kentucky. Two more workers dead..
Thanks for that Rustbelt, I totally agree.