ADAO-GAAW-graphic-DAY5Posted April 5, 2017

Each year, ADAO dedicates April 1-7 to increasing awareness of asbestos and preventing exposure by bringing together experts and victims from around the world to share, learn, and take action.  To view all 7 days of Global Asbestos Awareness Week (GAAW) contributors and content on our landing page, please click here.

This year the theme for International Workers’ Memorial Day is inequalities and occupational health, under a banner ‘Unsafe and unfair – discrimination on the job hurts us all’.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen and there is no safe level of exposure. Since the 19th century, asbestos was widely used in construction, shipbuilding, and the automotive industry. Without a ban, asbestos remains legal and lethal in the USA and nearly 70% of countries around the world today.

Today, we are sharing Mike Mattmuller’s story, “Staying Positive.” Mike was diagnosed when he was just 29 years old and a newlywed. Mike and his wife Jessica, had a daughter — their first — in the summer of 2016, so staying positive throughout his battle with mesothelioma has been a must. Mike and Jessica have become strong ambassadors for awareness, actively volunteering, sharing their story, and even testifying at Congress on multiple occasions. We thank the Mattmullers for dedicating so much time and energy to forwarding our collective goal of a safer, asbestos-free world.

In addition to Mike’s story, we are also highlighting the work of AFL-CIO, Hazards, and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

AFL-CIO on Workers’ Memorial Day

This year, AFLCIO will focus on the fight against the Trump administration and Congress’ building attacks on regulations that are crucial to protecting workers’ health and safety. Read their statement below, or go more in-depth into their positions on their website.

“On April 28, the unions of the AFL-CIO observe Workers Memorial Day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew the fight for safe jobs. This year we will come together to defend hard-won victories by working people from attacks by right-wing Republicans and business groups. We will commit to fighting until all workers have safe jobs and the freedom to form unions to seek a better future.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act and Mine Safety and Health Act promise workers the right to a safe job. Unions and our allies have fought hard to make that promise a reality—winning protections that have made jobs safer, saved hundreds of thousands of lives and prevented millions of workplace injuries and illnesses.

But our work is not done. Each year thousands of workers are killed and millions more injured or diseased because of their jobs.

The safety and health gains we have won are now threatened. The Trump administration has launched an all-out assault on regulations. The president has ordered that for every new protection, two existing safeguards must be removed from the books. At the same time Republicans in Congress have moved quickly to overturn new rules issued by the Obama administration. Agency budgets and enforcement programs are on the chopping block. The safety and health of workers and the public are in danger.

We must fight back. We cannot and will not let them turn back the clock and destroy the progress we have made to make jobs safer and save lives.

Please join us on Workers Memorial Day as we continue the fight for safe jobs.”

AFLCIO has provided some Workers’ Memorial Day fact sheets and graphics for you to study and share. Read more about their Workers’ Memorial Day plans and other important projects on their website.

2017 Workers Memorial Day Materials:

Hilda Palmer, (UK –  2016) on International Workers Memorial Day

h133cover583“On International Workers Memorial Day, 28 April, in the UK every year since the early 1990s, we ‘Remember the Dead’ and ‘Fight for the Living’ in remembrance events and by publicising how and why workers are killed at or by work and what must be done to stop this carnage.

Workers don’t die in tragic accidents or of rare illnesses, they die because their employer didn’t care enough for their lives and health, and government’s let them get away with.

In the UK over 1,000 people are killed in work-related incidents and up to 50,000 from work illnesses each year.  At least 5,000 people died due to past exposure to asbestos.

Almost all these deaths at and by work, could have, and should have, been prevented.  

We know what works to keep workers’ safe and unharmed at work: strong laws, strictly enforced, with unions organising to represent workers.

But over the last 6 years UK and other neolioberal governments worldwide have relentlessly attacked health and safety laws and their enforcement in a deregulatory ‘cut red tape’ binge, based on the lie that it is a ‘burden on business’ and we can’t afford it.  Now they attack trade unions and safety in the Trade Union Bill that would cut safety reps time to do their jobs despite fact that over 27 million days are lost each year due to work injuries and illness compared to 800,000 from strikes.

On #IWMD16 workers, trade unionists and Hazards Campaigners in the UK will stand in solidarity with others all over the world to demand an end to preventable workplace deaths.

We especially stand in solidarity with ADAO and all asbestos sufferers and activists, to demand an end to asbestos exposure everywhere, for all workers and consumers, in the name of our comrade and friend Simon Pickvance who died of Mesothelioma.” For the international resources visit www.28april.org and www.facebook.com/groups/170025585213 

ADAO applauds the AFL-CIO, Hazards, and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)  for their ongoing efforts and commitment to health and safety education and advocacy.

Together, we make change happen.

Linda Reinstein

Social Networks

Day FIVE – April 5: International Workers’ Memorial Day  – April 28

“Staying Positive” – Day Five Ambassador: Mike Mattmuller, Maryland, US

 

Special thanks to our 2017 Platinum Sponsor, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLP

2017 SHC GAAW