When is Workers' Memorial Day?
Workers' Memorial Day is a public holiday in Gibraltar, observed on April 28th. If April 28th falls on a weekend, the following Monday will be observed as a public holiday.
This day is intended to remember those who have died or been disabled during workplace accidents.
History of Worker's Memorial Day
In 1989, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the largest federation of unions in the United States declared April 28th as "Workers' Memorial Day" to honour the hundreds of thousands of people who are killed and injured while working each year. The date of April 28th was chosen as it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
Workers' Memorial Day, also known as International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured, is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace incidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisation in the fight for improvements in workplace safety. The slogan for the day is Remember the dead – Fight for the living.
"Every year more people are killed at work than in wars. Most don't die of mystery ailments, or in tragic "accidents". They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn't that important a priority. "
TUC, UK
While this day is officially recognised by many governments as a national holiday, it is observed a public holiday only in Gibraltar.
Fabian Picardo, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar and Leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party, declared Workers' Memorial Day as a bank holiday in 2012, as a day to remember all those who have been hurt, injured or killed at work.
The day is marked by a Workers’ Memorial Day Ceremony, when wreaths are laid and a minute's silence observed at the Alameda Gardens, in remembrance of those who have died or been disabled during workplace accidents. The ceremony is jointly organised by Gibraltar Cultural Services for Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar and Unite the Union.
