Global H S Programme

IFBWW Protecting Workers’ Rights

Global Health and Safety Programme

Problem: Every year around two million  workers die as a result of bad  and illegal working conditions Almost all of these deaths are  foreseeable and preventable

Costs at macro economic level �Prevention of injuries and ill 

health is a development issue 

�4% GDP of any nation lost on 

workplace accidents and ill  health

Problem: Every year around 100,000  people suffer fatal injuries  on construction sites.   Almost all of these deaths  are foreseeable and  preventable

Routine work - well known hazards - but no collective prevention measures…..      

Falls: roof work, no edge protection Inadequate, unguarded scaffolding Unprotected openings and shafts Inappropriate use of ladders Excavations: not shored up, unstable Struck or crushed by objects, materials, walls or vehicles.

Wood and forestry  Tropical

Loggers run a one in ten risk of being killed in a working lifetime  Sawmills are increasingly subcontracted and informal  Woodworking machinery still causes more injuries than machinery in any other sector

Wood and forestry  Machinery

hazards  Transport hazards  Stacking of timber  Manual handling  Falls from heights  Slips and trips

Invisible and ignored  work related ill health accounts for many hundreds 

of thousands of premature deaths. Asbestos  diseases alone kill about 100, 000 people every  year   yet….  Published data grossly underestimates the real  number of accidents, and reporting of work related  ill health is practically non existent.

Building Ill Health           

Deafness Vibration syndromes Back injuries Musculo skeletal disorders Respiratory illness, asthma, cancer Central nervous system disorders Reproductive ill health Renal, hepatic,cardio-vascular problems Dermatitis Dengue, malaria HIV AIDS

Why lack of  prevention? �Globalisation­ competition and the race to 

the bottom, hostility towards unions �Deregulation, downsizing and outsourcing � Workers seen as a cost by employers �Productivity and time pressure �Precarious contractual conditions, informal  work, migration �Low trade union density, low social status,  poverty, lack of respect for human and trade  union rights �Governments passive and permissive on  workers rights and social protection

Leading to chaotic working  conditions.  Lack of: � Compliance with basic legislation.  � Planning and co­ordination.

� Responsibilities and management          

system for health and safety � Investment in prevention measures  � OHS policy, supervision and  instruction,        information and  training. � Possibility for workers to exercise their 

The Trade Union Effect rights ­based focus  Trade Union Structure

 Institutional participation

 Legislation and policy agenda

 Collective bargaining on OHS  Recruitment and organising  Reps and Committees

 Information and training

 Organising informal and migrant workers  Campaigns on health, safety and welfare 

Legislation Promotion activities: guidelines,  information, and training, assistance,  inspections.  Targeted campaigns on  specific hazards and prevention measures. Enforcement and real deterrents: the fear  factor: costs of fines and compensation,  social stigma and loss of license or liberty  for negligent employers.  

Role of the Safety Representative  Participate in Health and Safety Committee

 Inspections, health /symptom surveys, accident 

book, documentation, reports and  recommendations  Information, training and communication with  workers on health hazards and the prevention  measures to be taken.  Represent workers interests, including the right to  refuse dangerous work without victimisation ­ not  only injuries but exposure to hazardous substances  such as asbestos

Safety Representatives on site Low union density is a key factor in explaining the  poor safety standards in our sectors Informal workers are widely dispersed in small  companies.  The use of casual and temporary  labour, subcontracting and the so­called self­ employed, creates an increasingly complex  working environment where unions represent  workers across multiple employers. 

Safety Representatives on site Unions find it difficult to identify, train and retain  trade union safety representatives given the mobile  and temporary nature of the work in our sectors.   Workers are often reluctant to take on a union  position because they fear that they are risking  their jobs.  Imaginative structures need to be considered to  ensure that workers have similar rights to  representation as in workplaces with a higher level  of union membership.  

Roving Safety Representatives   Unions at branch or regional level should be  able to provide an appropriate union  representative to support all members of  that union wherever and for whomever they  work.

Organising on worker’s rights  All

workers have rights, regardless of employment status, but how?  Unorganised, exploitative working conditions and inhumane living conditions,rural -urban migration as survival strategy  Address immediate needs for shelter and protection; water, fuel, food; chid care and education; health and above all employment.

Workers rights Educate! Agitate! Organise!    

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Educate on workers rights: Workplace - of course Pick up points- early morning Where workers live: roadside, shelters, on sites - night meetings or early morning; rural organising in villages; door to door, markets; Public and community meetings - evenings weekends At the union premises - get workers along to file complaints of rights abuses.

Workers rights Educate! Agitate! Organise!  Winning

a few small victories on shelter, water, minimum wage, creches, convinces workers about the union  Have to recruit workers and approach employers and middle men and authorities  Have to confront exploitation and demand social justice

Workers rights Educate! Agitate! Organise!  

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Many of our affiliates in India and Nepal are experts in organising in the informal economy Use health safety and welfare as organising tools, practical, visible and relevant improvements Health camps and health insurance is a big attraction Creches, childcare and education to get kids out of work and off site Unionisation and respect for wokers rights is the long term goal