"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" Worker Memorial Day 2017

Today is Workers Memorial Day, and across the world trade unionists remember the 20,000 British and the 2.3 million deaths of workers worldwide who die prematurely every year in work related accidents or from occupational disease.

In Three Mills Green, Stratford, East London there is a memorial to 4 workers who lost their lives while at work. On this site there used to be an underground well next to a Gin distillery. On July 12 1901 a worker was sent down the shaft to carry out work but was overcome by toxic fumes. Three of his fellow workers went down the shaft, in turn, to try and rescue him and were all in turn poisoned and died while trying to pull their comrades to safety.

The "Clasping hands" statue was later erected to honour this sacrifice.

West Ham Labour Party, UNISON Housing Association branch and Newham Teachers Association (NUT) have for the past several years laid a wreath on Workers Memorial Day at this site to remember all those who have died at work or from work related ill health.

Next year, 2018 Workers Memorial Day, is on a Saturday (it's always on 28 April) so we hope to hold a bigger event, inviting local schools, Woodcraft folk, all parts of the Labour Movement and progressive employers to attend and participate.

This part of East London is steeped in working class history. Behind this picture you can see the London Match Girls Strike Building and also the 2014 London Olympics Stadium.

My UNISON Branch Chair, Tony Power, addressed the gathering and pointed out that due to good health and safety agreements and practices with trade unions, no workers was killed building the London Olympic Stadium. While in a country such as Qater, which does not recognise trade unions, it is thought that 7000 workers will die by the time the World Football Cup kicks off in 2022.

Workers' Capital Conference 2015 (Day 2)

This is a little late. I have posted here and linked here on the first day of this global annual conference for trade union pension trustees and organisers that took place earlier this month.

(On my https://twitter.com/grayee account I tweeted on the presentations and speeches which I have now used to write this post).

The day was started by a welcome speech from Toni Heerts (FNV) Committee Workers Capital Chair & Co-Chair Paddy Crumlin (ITF). 

The 1st plenary was on "Embedding pro-labour practises & policies for responsible investment". Willem Noordman from the Dutch Pension Federation recognised that engineering unions would have a different view of arms production than others but all unions have plenty in common. There is a real dilemma that if we disinvest from a company because we don't like their practises that we lose all influence over them.

Tom Croft, from the USA Steel Valley Authority in Pittsburgh pointed out that the "S" in "ESG" principles (Environmental, Social and Governance) is too often forgotten.

Pension trustee and national officer, John Neil, from Unite spoke about the Trade Union Shareholders Organisation (TUSO) in the UK. Trade union staff pension funds in the TUC, UNISON, Unite and the ITF combine collectively to make sure that all the shares they own are voted in the interests of "pro-labour" at company AGMs (such as the rogue UK company "Sports Direct" the following day)

A number of international speakers mentioned TUSO at the conference and that they hoped that something similar would be set up in their countries.

I asked the question is there evidence collated of "pro-labour" companies that have proved to be long term good investments that we can show our trustee Boards? Tom Croft responded that in the USA there are certain Private Equity companies that have humanely restructured firms & saved jobs.

Next Janet Williamson from the TUC chaired a panel on 2022 World Cup construction deaths in Qatar.  Gemma Swart from the ITUC spoke about the modern day slave camps in Qatar and that investor pressure over reputational risk can bring about change since the whole country is essentially a family business.

Roel Nieuwenkamp from OECD pointed out that they have introduced binding guidelines on contractors including supply chains with a grievance procedure. "Soft law with hard consequences". He used an example of a complaint by a NGO against Formula1 over human rights in Bahrain and there could be a similar one against Fifa over Qatar.

Hugues Letourneau  from CWC on their human/labour rights campaign in Qatar points out that there has been 279 Indian migrants deaths so far. They are putting pressure on UK and French construction firms via "investor letters".

Cllr Richard Greening from LAPFF  spoke about their engagement with companies exposed in media working in Qatar at AGMs & face-to-face meetings.

(after this session I had to go to a work meeting and missed the debate on infrastructure investment which I understand was pretty heated at times. Some delegates believed that such investment was being misused to privatise public services)

I came back to hear Nick Robins from UNPRI enquiry on the "Design of a Sustainable Financial System".  He believed that there was evidence of a "quiet revolution" in Green investment despite agreeing the Governor of the Bank of England that there was a "tragedy of horizons".

Then 'Labour Standards in Sustainability Rating: How well they incorporated?' Chaired by Elizabeth Umla.

John Jarrett from "FTSE for good" index explained how they did their ESG research and how core Labour standards from all companies are assessed including the supply chain.  Antti Savilaakso from MSCI admitted they have a somewhat similar method to FTSE. They have 130 analysis serving 900 clients. Their key issue is to decide whether bad company behaviour is a one off or structural?

Keeran Gwilliam-Beeharee from Vigeo said they do things differently. They start with the four core ILO standards. Governance issues are the best reported but Labour issues have a low coverage and there is decreasing information on it.

Mario Enrique Sanchez Richter, CCOO trade union economist spoke about his report on the sustainability of rating agencies and how well do they measure? His conclusion was that they do not measure very well.

Final speaker was  Brian Daley from ACTU who stated bluntly that he had not seen any evidence that Labour/Social ratings were actually used by fund managers or advisers to make buy or sell decisions.

In the Q&A Keeran responded to a question on why Labour issues are not being covered by saying that Governance issues such as corruption are seen as more important and lack of investor pressure.

I asked the panel whether rating agencies could give evidence of Companies with good Labour ratings having better long term performance? If they did this would this increase demand for such ratings? John replied that he was not aware of such evidence and agreed that Green and governance issues tended to "crowd out" Labour issues. Brian responded that we should be asking these questions and this should be at the heart of what trustees do.

The closing session was first a video from Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO & CWC co-chair on building an economy & retirement future that we can be proud of. Then final remarks from ITUC General Secretary Sharon Burrow, who said we want rights over our capital but we also want sustainability. While we respect workers in the carbon industry there will be no jobs in a dead planet.

1200 dead so far & 7 years to go? Qatar: The human toll of FIFA’s corruption

Shocking chart and story from Washington Post. Hat tip TUC Risks. People quite rightly go on about the corruption and money but what about this waste of human life? Support the TUC "Play fair" campaign.

"The Washington Post has flipped the focus from the financial corruption gripping football’s global governing body, instead highlighting concerns about the considerable and deadly human price paid as a result of FIFA’s failings.

“In the end, it only took a $150 million scandal to make Americans care about soccer,” the paper notes. “FIFA, the notoriously corrupt and yet seemingly invincible governing body of world soccer, has finally landed itself an indictment that some would say is worthy of its reputation.

The charges against a handful of senior FIFA officials include money laundering, racketeering, bribery and fraud. In short, the federal lawsuit alleges what millions of soccer fans have suspected all along: that FIFA officials have been using the organisation's massive influence to line their pocketbooks.”

 But the Washington Post adds “a closer look suggests that there is a lot of real-world suffering happening as a direct result of FIFA's decisions. For the most obvious example of this, look to Qatar… a report by the International Trade Union Confederation has estimated 1,200 deaths so far, with up to 4,000 additional worker deaths by 2022.”

 Commenting on the corruption charges laid by the US Justice Department against several FIFA officials, the paper notes “as the families of 1,200 dead workers can attest, in many ways the damage has already been done. If FIFA board members did indeed accept bribes from Qatar to let it host the 2022 cup, it would show how backroom corruption can have widespread and fatal consequences.”

Why Coke, VISA, McDonalds, Adidas, Kia & Hyundai are nothing more than human rights abusers

I have just sent this email below to the CEO's of human rights abusers - Coke, VISA, McDonalds, Adidas, Kia & Hyundai.

The TV news tonight begins with the arrest and charges of FIFA officials with corruption. This is serious but the needless deaths of hundreds of construction workers Qatar is an unforgivable disgrace. International law is clear. You cannot pick and choose which human rights your company's support.

"The Hypocrisy World Cup? FIFA sponsors must tell Qatar to play fair on workers' human rights

62 workers may lose their lives for each game played during Qatar’s 2022 World Cup, a tournament likely to be sponsored by FIFA partner companies Coke, VISA, McDonald’s, Adidas, Kia and Hyundai. Without sponsorship, this multi-billion dollar tournament couldn’t take place.

Due to poor health & safety, shocking living conditions and almost total absence of rights, more than 4,000 of Qatar’s workers will die before the first ball is kicked. Hundreds have already died through a combination of accidents, heart attacks and suicide. Because of Qatar’s laws, migrant workers are trapped with a single employer, barred from changing jobs or even leaving the country without permission. Wages are paid sometimes months late, leaving trapped workers starving. Labour courts are costly and complicated, with little language assistance, and workers are banned from forming or joining trade unions to negotiate better conditions.

There has been almost no pressure from FIFA to fix this, nor have sponsors taken a stand, despite their professed commitment to human rights and workers’ welfare.

Most sponsors commit themselves to respecting the UN Declaration of Human Rights – which guarantees the right to join a union - and have specific policies banning forced labour and slavery in their supply chains. However, none of them seem to have considered that paying FIFA to host a tournament built on slave labour goes against everything they claim to believe in.

As a customer or potential customer of these multinational companies, can you help us pressure them to live up to their own ethical standards in how they spend their sponsorship funding?

We know money talks in FIFA. If one of these sponsors were to speak up it would be hugely influential in guiding FIFA and Qatar into ensuring that labour standards for people preparing the country to host the World Cup meet international standards of safety, decency and human rights".

If you agree then click on link to send the same email (http://act.goingtowork.org.uk/page/speakout/fifa-sponsors-must-tell-qatar-to-play-fair-on-workers-human-rights) to these highly paid human rights abusers. 

Workers' Memorial Day (and stop the Slaughter in Qatar)

Every year on the 28 April it is International Workers' Memorial Day (WMD). A trade union led day of remembrance for those killed at work or who have died of industrial injuries or diseases. Some 50,000 British workers still die every year prematurely due to their work.

It is also a campaigning day for those currently in work and to try and ensure they are safe. I will be wearing my WMD purple 'forget-me-not' ribbon and hope to attend an event later today.

The WMD theme this year is 'Protecting workers around the world through strong regulation, enforcement and union rights'.   I would suggest that you ask all political candidates in the forthcoming Council and European elections - are they in favour of this theme? Then vote accordingly.

See Hazards website for details of UK events.

Last week marked the 1st anniversary of the disaster at Rana Plaza Factory in Bangladesh which killed over 1100 workers. Remember also the estimated 400 workers dead so far in Qatar building the football stadiums for the 2022 World Cup. At the present rate 4000 workers will be dead by then.

While construction deaths in this country are still at a unacceptable level, thanks to regulation and trade unions, not a single worker died in the UK during the building of the 2012 Olympics.