Falkirk remembers workers who lost their lives

Speaking on Sunday as Falkirk Trades Union Council marked International Workers Memorial Day, she said Falkirk, with its history from the Carron Ironworks to Alexanders coach builders and Grangemouth’s oil refinery is only too aware of hazardous substances and dangers at work.

She added: “The purpose of International Workers’ Memorial Day is to ‘remember the dead and to fight for the living’ and this year’s theme is ‘dangerous substances – get them out of the workplace’.

“This particularly important message resonates in Scotland, with our industrial heritage of heavy industry, which, unchecked, brings real dangers to the workplace.

“So today it is right that we remember those workers, who turned up at the factory, the shipyard, the refinery, their workplace, never to 
return. And those who returned from work to suffer debilitating disease, illness and death.”

An official with the University College Union, she added: ‘We should also remember that workplace hazards are not just chemicals, dangerous substances, or heavy machinery. Spiralling workloads, unachievable deadlines, cuts to services – which mean doing more with less – lead to anxiety, stress and mental health illnesses.”

Others attending made contributions. Former MSP Cathie Peattie highlighted Asian sweatshops where women and children create clothes for our high streets, Falkirk Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn spoke of the need for employers to care for their workers. Councillor Lorna Binnie focussed on the pressures on women workers. Council Labour Group leader Robert Bissett said trade unions had a particular role to play.

Trades Union Council secretary Duncan McCallum, chair of Forth Valley Branch of the NUJ, spoke of the 94 journalists killed as a result of their work in 2018 and the five killed so far this year, 
particularly NUJ member Lyra McKee killed as she covered a riot in Derry/Londonderry last week.