AUPE to mark Day of Mourning for killed and injured workers tomorrow
EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees will hold an International Day of Mourning ceremony tomorrow to pay tribute to AUPE members and workers throughout the world who have been killed or injured on the job.
WHO: Alberta Union of Provincial Employees members
WHAT: Ceremony marking International Day of Mourning
WHERE: AUPE headquarters, 10451 – 170 Street NW, Edmonton
WHEN: 11 a.m., Thursday, April 28, 2004
WHY: To remember AUPE members and other workers killed or injured on the job
“We have been very fortunate so far in 2005 that no members of our union have lost their lives on the job,” said AUPE Vice-President Garnett Robinson, who is chair of the union’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee.
“Sadly, that is something we cannot say in many years, and while we are relieved that AUPE worksites over-all have a good record of on-the-job safety this year, we recognize that we cannot allow our vigilance at our worksites or our commitment to workplace safety to waver,” Robinson said.
“The level of occupational illness and on-the-job injuries also continue to be an ongoing concern,” he added.
Moreover, Robinson said, some work related deaths are not recorded as such – for example, when workers harm themselves or take their own lives as a result of conditions in the workplace.
“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.
Media are welcome to attend tomorrow’s ceremony.
The 11 a.m. ceremony will commence with Robinson leading members in a moment of silence, followed by a reading and an outline of the union Occupational Health and Safety Committee’s plans for the upcoming year.
For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (cellular phone)
Garnett Robinson, Vice-President, AUPE 780-404-9167 (cellular phone)
Dennis Malayko, Union Representative AUPE, 780-930-3362 or 780-910-0805 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)