Last year, Tasmania began building a memorial garden for people who have been killed at work. South Australia has the Don Gage Memorial Walk. Queensland unveiled its new workers’ memorial on 28 April 2010. The Australian government has finally sought to establish a national memorial in Canberra in support of the International Day of Mourning. … Continue reading “Australia to get a national workers’ memorial”
The United States President, Barack Obama, has officially proclaimed 28 April 2010 as Workers Memorial Day. It may be a politically appropriate announcement given the multiple fatalities that have happened recently in the United States, which the President mentions, but this should not overlook the fact that the leader of one of the most influential countries in … Continue reading “National recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day – US & UK”
Some days, politics should be kept in the background. Increasingly the International Day of Mourning is being used as a political platform, principally by the union movement. But this is discomforting and a little like anti-war protests during ANZAC Day, as happened several decades ago. International Day of Mourning, or Workers’ Memorial Day, as it … Continue reading “Unionists express anger at Australia’s approach to OHS on Workers’ Memorial Day”
Tomorrow, 28 April 2010, is the International Day of Mourning, a remembrance day for those who have died at work. In Australia most of the focus will be on the memorial event in Sydney as the majority of trade union leaders are in the city for the ACTU Organising Conference. This has the potential to … Continue reading “2010 International Day of Mourning”
If safety culture is set and developed by leaders, what does it mean when a Prime Minister launches a scheme that places the creation of jobs over the need for worker safety? Two days before International Workers’ Memorial Day, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners program analyses the failed insulation scheme initiated by the Australian … Continue reading “If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?”
Bernard Keane writing in online newsletter, Crikey, is one of the few who has reported on the Australian Government’s insulation scheme debacle and kept the fact of worker deaths as more than just a moral sideline to the issue. On 3 March 2010, Keane wrote a very good article which draws on the political and media … Continue reading “Non-mainstream media acknowledges the realities of workplace fatalities”
On 13 July 2009, Tasmania’s Minister for Workplace Relation Lisa Singh braved the elements to launch the Tasmanian Workers Commemorative Park in Launceston. The park is a work in progress and the local council is looking for support in the memorial’s completion. According to the Minister’s media release, the Park was created to honour those … Continue reading “New Worker Memorial”