AUPE marks International Day of Mourning with moment of silence
EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees paused to pay tribute today to AUPE members and workers throughout the world who have been killed or injured on the job.
“We are fortunate today that we do not have to add names to our AUPE Memorial, as there have been no deaths in the last year directly attributed to work amongst our 60,000-plus membership,” said AUPE Vice-President Garnett Robinson, who is chair of the union’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee.
“However, we continue to have far too many members injured while working and also members who have died due to work-related issues such as stress. We unfortunately know of workers who have committed suicide as a result of workplace stress,” Robinson said.
Robinson also took a moment to honour the four fallen RCMP Mounties shot to death during a raid at a Mayorthorpe-area farm on March 3.
“These constables were all young, but also well trained in personal safety. Any workplace death is a tragedy – four deaths are all but indescribable.
“Our thoughts go out to the families of these peace officers today, as well as to the families of all Albertans who have had a loved one die while working.”
Members and staff bowed their heads in a moment of silence to commemorate those injured or killed on the job.
Elimination of all on-the-job injuries and fatalities is an attainable goal, with the cooperation of all employees and employers, said AUPE President Dan MacLennan.
“People throughout Alberta must recognize that our goal as a society should be total elimination of all kinds of workplace injury and death,” said AUPE President Dan MacLennan, who will attend the Edmonton ceremony.
“The record over the past several years shows that more dangerous situations are occurring in Alberta workplaces, and that a higher rate of incidents takes place in workplaces where there are no unions,” MacLennan said.
He argued that employers who are found to be in contravention of life-saving health and safety regulations should face incarceration, as well as the largest financial penalties possible. “As I have said before, that’s the only way things are going to change,” he concluded.
In Alberta, one worker is injured on the job every 3.5 minutes, observed AUPE Occupational health and Safety specialist Dennis Malayko. Throughout Canada in 2004, he said, more than 300,000 workers were injured seriously enough to miss work.
In 2004, 124 workers died from injury or work-related disease, Malayko said. Canada-wide in 2004, more than 800 died.
In 1996, the UN established the International Day of Mourning, partially as a result of a formal request initiated by AUPE and other organizations.
Photo: AUPE Vice-President Garnett Robinson addresses members of the union and media during International Day of Mourning ceremonies held at AUPE Headquarters in Edmonton on April 28.