Today we honour and remember all the people who died or were hurt from work related illness and injuries on National Day of Mourning.
Every worker has the right to return home safe after a day of work. We must continue to put pressure on the federal government to replace the current definition of danger in the Canada Labour Code, amended in 2014, with the pre-existing one.
We demand employers in federal and other jurisdictions to respect the rules on workplace health and safety committees and urge them to collaborate more with those committee members to ensure safe workplaces.
In 2019, over 1000 workers died in workplace related accidents in Canada, a similar statistic as in 2018, which is about 3 workers a day, 3 workers a day too many.
I encourage all UNE members to remember those workers and invite you to attend virtual events that will be held on Tuesday, April 28 across the country to commemorate and honour them or to observe a moment of silence.
Respectfully and in Solidarity,
Kevin King
UNE National President