“Remember the dead and fight for the living”

written by Steve Davison President Keighley TUC

April 28th is International Workers Memorial Day. A day when we reflect upon the loss of life at work and we pledge to redouble our efforts to protect those currently working. Our slogan is ‘remember the dead and fight for the living’.

In line with Government social isolation policies we will not be holding our annual public event in Keighley.

The Covid-19 virus has laid bare for everyone to see the consequences of running down our essential services and profiteering out of ill-health and old age. Running parallel with this has been an ideological war against Health and Safety under the banner of “health and safety gone mad”, “nanny state’, “over-zealous”, “snow-flakes”. Well it’s not very funny now that our front-line workers are deprived of essential PPE. The position for our care-workers is even more perilous. Transport and warehouse and distribution workers, shop workers, those manufacturing the parts and machines necessary to preserve life. The list is endless. We are all essential and all deserve protection at work.

It cannot be right that front-line NHS and Care staff are faced with the dilemma of should they risk their own lives for the infected. They too have families. Or that workers risk going to work because they don’t have enough money to feed their families.

“Fight for the living” is not an abstract slogan. It is the reality of the UK here and now. It is all of our responsibilities to ensure we protect lives at work. Trade unions will strain every muscle to ensure this happens and after the virus is under control we will fight even harder to ensure the risks to lives at work is eradicated as we have done for two centuries now.

There will be enquiry’s and those responsible for this negligence will be held to account. But that is for tomorrow.

Today we “remember the dead (take care of those dying) and fight for the living”.

Steve Davison

President Keighley TU

https://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/18405359.remember-dead-fight-living—keighley-tuc-president-speaks-international-workers-memorial-day/