Waltham Forest Workers’ Memorial Day to highlight workplace risks

Workers’ Memorial Day takes place around the world on 28 April. The event remembers those who’ve died either directly or indirectly because of their work. And it’s an opportunity to call for better working conditions and practices. The movement’s slogan is:

Remember the dead – and fight like hell for the living!

Trade unionists and supporters in Waltham Forest will gather to mark Workers’ Memorial Day with a rally. It’s at 12pm on Tuesday 28 April in Fellowship Square outside Walthamstow Town Hall / Assembly Rooms, Forest Rd, E17.

Speakers will include:

• Kevin Parslow, secretary of Waltham Forest Trades Council.
• Annabelle Stanford, Unison Waltham Forest.
• Katie Hinds, NEU.
• Invited speaker, Unite bus workers.
• Rada Daniell, Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
• Sam Mason, climate activist.
• Mick Holder, NUJ and Hazards Campaign.

Parslow said:

Behind the official statistics it is calculated that in reality in the UK 182 people die every day because of their work. That is more than seven every hour. The greater proportion of these people die from diseases and ill health caused by their work.

The International Trade Union Confederation says globally work kills more people than war. It is acknowledged that the greater majority of this is predictable and preventable if employers took greater steps to manage their work safely. It is also acknowledged that where there are trade union health and safety reps looking out for their fellow workers the likelihood of injury or ill-health is greatly reduced.

We will gather on Workers’ Memorial Day to remember those killed working in Waltham Forest and to hear of the issues faced by workers daily, then, following a respectful minute’s silence, we will again re-commit to remembering the dead and fighting for the living!

Events will happen around the country and around the world.

This year the Waltham Forest rally will focus on trade union disputes in east London which have worker health and safety at their core. Teachers at some local schools have been striking over workloads, hours of work and heavy handed management style. And bus workers have been striking over driver fatigue and work patterns.

Attendees will remember those killed working in Waltham Forest, such as Ekarmanjeet Singh (25), a construction worker killed when a roof collapsed at a house being renovated in Pevensey Rd, Leytonstone in December 2023.

They will remember Jorge Ortega, the RMT member who was murdered whilst working at Ilford Station in December 2024.

Workers’ Memorial Day also calls for action

The rally will also remember the many thousands killed by asbestos and call for a plan to remove all asbestos from our public buildings and elsewhere to ensure an end to the horrific diseases and deaths from this killer dust in the future.

It will call for the damage done by previous governments to the agencies which are meant to protect workers and the environment – the Health & Safety Executive and the Environment Agency – to be stopped and reversed so as to ensure everyone at work is safe and healthy.

Trade unionists will again call for stronger and quicker action against the causes and effects of climate change.

And they will mark the effect of the destruction done by war, notably the asbestos risk from bombed buildings and the chemicals from those bombs, and its effect on those living now and long into the future.

The rally will call for protections that will ensure the safety of future technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

It will speak about the global nature of all of these issues and how Workers’ Memorial Day is a global event. And it will reflect the ITUC theme for this year’s even – the psychosocial risks of work.

And the rally will recognise the role trade unions and trade union health and safety representatives play in preventing damage to the health and safety of their fellow workers – saying safety reps save lives!

Featured image via the Canary