Monday, April 29, 2024
Every year on April 28, AMAPCEO commemorates the National Day of Mourning, a day dedicated to those who lost their lives or suffered injury or illness on the job, or experienced a work-related tragedy.
Nothing exists without workers. We owe our healthcare, our education, the roads we travel on, the goods and services we enjoy, and the very food we eat, to workers. Workers make our lives possible—and they should never have to lose or endanger their lives on the job.
While we may have come a way since the Workers Mourning Day Act was passed in 1991, making April 28 an official Day of Mourning, we still have far to go to ensure a safe, healthy workplace for all. In 2022, there were 993 workplace fatalities recorded in Canada.1 That number should be zero.
And with International Workers’ Day on May 1, AMAPCEO is also reminded of how important it is for us to continue to fight to uphold workers’ rights and strengthen working conditions, both for our own members and as part of the larger international labour community.
We do this directly by ensuring that our members’ safety, protection, and wellbeing at work is our number one priority. Our Health, Safety and Wellness Representatives are trained to act to address and improve health and safety conditions at work. Through fact sheets for each bargaining unit, AMAPCEO also provides members with a clear, direct explanation of every Ontario worker’s right under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to refuse unsafe work.
AMAPCEO is also part of the broader struggle for workers’ rights and safety through our membership in provincial, national, and international labour organizations, including the Ontario Federation of Labour, the Professional Unions’ Network of Canada, and Public Services International, respectively. We continue to support a wide range of labour initiatives and organizations through donations, sponsorships, and demonstrations of solidarity.
AMAPCEO stands with all workers, unionized or not, in Ontario and across the world. We stand with those who are fighting for safer, better working conditions for all.
Stronger together,
Dave Bulmer
President/CEO