AUPE unveils new memorial sculpture for International Day of Mourning
EDMONTON – Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Doug Knight unveiled a new memorial sculpture today at this year’s ceremony marking the International Day of Mourning for Workers Killed or Injured on the Job.
“April 28th is not a happy occasion. It is the day on which we mourn the working people all around the world who are killed or injured on the job… Last year – right here in Alberta – 166 working people died on the job,” Knight told the crowd at union headquarters in Edmonton.
“The time is long overdue for our government to take this issue seriously and not just casually dismiss workplace fatalities as a cost of doing business,” he said.
Knight called for frequent and random workplace safety inspections, increased prosecutions and tougher penalties for safety violations, prosecutions of employers who intimidate workers in to not filing accident reports or claims and “meaningful funds” to occupational health and safety training in Alberta.
Uniformed members of the AUPE Local 003 Correctional and Regulatory Services Honour Guard took part in the ceremony. Edmonton sculptor Ann Gurney and the team she led to create the sculpture also attended. Other guests at the ceremony included Alberta Building Trades Executive Director Ron Harry, and Alberta Federation of Labour Secretary Treasurer Nancy Furlong.
Union members throughout the world mark the Day of Mourning to remember workers killed and injured on the job, the impact on their friends, colleagues and family members, and to recommit themselves to fighting every day for workplace safety.
The large sculpture unveiled at the ceremony portrays AUPE members and family from each of the unions’ four sectors gathered solemnly in remembrance around a miner’s lantern – a key symbol of safety and hope in the International Day of Mourning.
“We must also fight for fairer labour laws that make it easier for working people who want to be represented by unions to become union members,” Knight added in his closing remarks.
“Why? Because it is a fact that where there are unions, fewer workers will die in workplace accidents.”
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For more information contact:
Doug Knight, President, AUPE – 780-930-3301, 780-265-6565 (cellular)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE – 780-930-3311, 780-717-2943 (cellular)