Unions urged to mainstream occupational safety and health

Accra, April 29, GNA - The African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) on Tuesday asked unions to work towards mainstreaming occupational safety and health in trade union pursuits.

This, it said, would help to fulfil their members' aspirations for a safe, healthy and secure working environment. This was contained in a statement released by the Nairobi-based ITUC -Africa to commemorate International Commemoration Day (ICD) For Dead and Injured Workers which fell on April 28.

ITUC-Africa noted in the statement signed by Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwa, General Secretary, that thousands of workers suffered and died without being recognised.

"Economic growth and industrialization have also led to conditions where millions of workers, including many African workers, are employed without having the required minimum right and access to safety and health.

"They live and work in difficult conditions of poverty which are increasingly deteriorating due to increasing exploitation." ITUC-Africa said it acknowledged the growing recognition of April 28 as international day for dead and injured workers since 1996 when the day became an "international day".

"April 28 has become an important memorial day that allows us to remember the victims of the past and helps to draw attention to the continuing risks that workers face in the world of work. "April 28 reinforces the commitment of the trade union movement to the promotion of occupational safety and health and ITUC-Africa does not only recognise the need for its affiliates to join in commemorating the day but also to advocate and campaign for the adoption of the day as such by African governments."

The statement said the adoption of the day by governments could contribute to the drawing of attention to public policy deficits in occupational safety and health and also draw attention to the need for better provision of public health care for occupational diseases and injuries.

ITUC-Africa said it also appreciated the call to link commemoration of April 28 with specific issues and campaigns that have also occupied the international trade union movement.

These include the "Ban Asbestos Campaign" as well as work on HIV/AIDS that highlights the right of access to public health services, prevention programmes, affordable treatment, care and support, the right to appropriate work for those receiving treatment, and to receive health and death benefits as issues that workers with HIV/AIDS and their families have in common with all those we remember on April 28.

It affirmed the need to carry on with the struggle to secure the recognition of April 28 as ICD for Dead and Injured Workers and to link the day appropriately with May Day to promote the overall struggle of workers to achieve freedom of association and full rights to collective bargaining.