We Made It Happen! BWI reports record-high IWMD actions

With a record-breaking 238 actions in 53 countries, BWI and 98 of its affiliates worldwide once again showed that it is crucial to highlight the need to actively implement the Fundamental Right to Occupational Health and Safety (OSH). The activities varied from workplace site visits, training and awareness-raising activities to nationwide campaigns, memorials and mass actions.


Some of the highlights of BWI affiliates' various IWMD actions worldwide were:


  • The NUBCW organised a legal and advocacy course in the Philippines to lobby for implementing OHS laws in the country.
  • The young workers from Clawuz and Zcatwu, Zimbabwe, commemorated the IWMD with a road show urging the workers to demand the implementation of occupational safety and health practices in the workplace and those in the informal sector to unite and demand a decent working environment.
  • In Panama, the closing ceremony of SUNTRACS' annual campaign was attended by 250 workers, the Panamanian Minister of Labour, union and company representatives and other authorities, including a theatre piece to inform the new generations that today's guarantees of personal protective equipment (PPE) and occupational health training are the result of a historic trade union struggle. 
  • In Brasil, one of the activities organised by FETRACONSPAR was an act in memory of the lives lost due to work accidents. At a location part of many commuters' journey to work, 239 crosses were placed in reference to the workers who died due to work accidents in 2022 in Paraná.
  • In Belgium, FTGB launched a survey on the impact of atypical working hours on workers' well-being (weekends, nights, etc.) which led to a Press Release for IWMD announcing that 90 percent of workers on atypical hours will not be able to last until 65 years old.

Finally, as a joint global action with the ILO, BWI sent out the newly adopted Code of Practice on OSH in Construction to all its construction affiliates to ensure that it is available to everyone. It will serve as a guide to determine what appropriate demands they can make from employers as a part of the right to OSH. A similar action is planned for all forestry unions after the upcoming sectorial meeting on the Code of Practice for OSH in the forestry industry.