About two dozen activists, from several unions, took part in the annual International Workers Memorial Day event organised by Waltham Forest Trades Council at Walthamstow Town Hall.
Among the speakers, both George Thomson from PCS and Susan Wills from UCU spoke of the mental health effects of stress and bullying at work. Glenroy Watson from the RMT spoke about the particular hazards of working in a safety-critical occupation. WFTC’s Mick Holder presented figures from the ILO showing that globally more than 8000 workers die every day as a result ofwork-related accident or disease, and more than 1 million are injured every day in a workplace accident. He also noted that the mass repeal of EU legislation proposed by the government threatened to remove most of the legal requirements on employers to provide a safe and healthy work environment This was expanded on by John Cryer, MP for Leyton and Wanstead, who pointed out that although the repeal of EU legislation did not directly affect what he described as the “gold standard” Health and Safety at Work Act, this too was in Tory sights and they were preparing to repeal it and return workplaces to Victorian conditions.
Each speech was greeted with a resounding chant of “Remember the dead, and fight like hell for the living!” Following a one-minutes silence in honour of Waltham Forest victims of workplace death, two memorial wreaths were placed at the foot of the borough’s flagpole.
Thank you to Mick Holder for use of the images.
Art Book Review Books Capitalism China Climate Emergency Conservative Government Conservative Party COVID-19 EcoSocialism Elections Europe Fascism Film Film Review France Gaza Imperialism Israel Italy Keir Starmer Labour Party Long Read Marxism Marxist Theory Palestine pandemic Protest Russia Solidarity Statement Trade Unionism Ukraine United States of America War
Latest articles
- Britain – difficulties and opportunities…
This article by Veronica Fagan was written for the French magazine of the Fourth Internal, Inprecor. It therefore focuses on big picture developments in Britain but we think its also of interest to comrades here. - Budget: Progressive package or dog’s dinner
Dave Kellaway gives an initial response to the budget - Ecosocialism or Extinction: defending life, building free territories and Ecosocialism from and for the Peoples
A powerful statement for radical change agreed at the Second Ecosocialist Meeting, Belém, Brazil, November 2025 - Your Party Founding Conference
Find all the key information from Anti*Capitalist Resistance for the Your Party Founding Conference. Below is the rolling blog for updates throughout conference. - We need to talk about the Labour Party
Dave Kellaway reviews and discusses the issues raised by The Starmer Symptom edited by Mark Perryman and published by Pluto Press, 2025