Mark Thomas
CAMPAIGN IWMD
n By Unite buildingWORKER Team
INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY 2024
buildingWORKER brings you a snapshot of the day
Honour the dead, fight for the living
Unite members up and down the country marked International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) this year like never before. Unite’s construction sector organised and joined scores of events across the union’s regions, with Unite members gathering in droves to ‘honour the dead and fight for the living’. This year’s IWMD theme – workers’ health and the climate crisis
– was particularly poignant as the climate emergency accelerates, putting workers’ lives around the world at risk. As ever, Unite construction members reiterated their commitment to fighting for better health and safety in their sector, which remains among the most dangerous industries in the UK.
LEYTONSTONE – MIGRANT ROOFER DIES
Unite’s London Building Workers’ branch gathered to remember a roofer killed at work in Leytonstone. Originally from India, Ekarmanjeet Singh died last year after the roof he was working on collapsed on top of him and a colleague. Trade unionists, councillors and a local MP paid tribute to Ekarmanjeet outside the house in Pevensey Road where he died.
Unite regional officer Declan Murphy laid the blame for Ekarmanjeet’s death on exploitation, noting in his speech, “There was no training, no proper PPE, no method statement and a cash in hand job - complete exploitation by an employer who cared more about making money than the safety of workers.”
HINKLEY POINT C –
For IWMD, Hinkley Point C (HPC) construction workers gathered around the Unite workers’ memorial in Blake Gardens in Bridgwater, Somerset. Unite’s HPC branch first unveiled the memorial in 2021, and it’s been the focus of IMWD events in the area ever since. Unite site convenor and scaffolder Dave Borthwick led a
STORIES OF THE HUMAN COST
minute’s silence at the event, while fellow Unite rep Luke Panasera released two doves in honour of fallen workers. Meanwhile, Unite rep and HPC foreman Shane James gave a moving speech, noting, “Behind every statistic is a name, a face and a story of the human cost.”
21 unite buildingWORKER Autumn 2024
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