Every year on April 28, trade unions around the world organize events in memory of workers who have suffered injury or perished on the job. The purpose of these actions is not only to pay tribute to the memories of our afflicted colleagues, but most of all, to shine a light on the problem of unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, and to improve those conditions for wage workers. There is no reason that accidents at work and professional illnesses can't be eliminated, if government, employers, and workers make it their purpose to do so.

   Ukraine is an extremely dangerous country when it comes to worker health and safety. More than 20,000 Ukrainian workers were the victims of work-related traumas and professional illnesses in 2007, according to official statistics. Based on information held by trade unions, that number is 100 times greater, and as high as 2 million people.

   Ukraine is the most dangerous country in which to be a miner. In comparison with the United States, in Ukraine 200 more miners die mining the equivalent amount of coal. Even China – the global leader in terms of absolute numbers of mining deaths has managed to decrease incidents at its mining enterprises, unlike Ukraine. It is cheaper for employers to buy official permission to ignore health and safety measures, than to invest money in modernizing and increasing the safety levels of the mines.

   The government and employers have taken the same position regarding this travesty – to ignore the facts and dispute the statistics. Meanwhile, health and safety laws are disregarded – enforcement is "too expensive" for the budget.

   Putting their employees at risk of loss of life and limb, employers themselves risk almost nothing – even material compensation provided for workers' losses is not paid from employers' pockets, but from a special governmental insurance fund.

   Trade unions can no longer remain silent. The year 2007 for the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FTU) was conducted under the banner of a battle against covered-up traumas at work, and exposed horrific lies and deceit in the cases of hundreds of injured workers on the part of employers, governmental bodies responsible for the state of health and safety in the workplace, and the Fund for Social Insurance that covers work-related injuries.

   April 28, 2008 at 2pm, the Youth Council of the FTU will conduct a March in Memory of workers who have been injured on the job. The March will start from the Union's Headquarters in the center of Kyiv, and pass by the Ministries of Agrarian Policy and Coal Industry, under whose jurisdiction fall the sectors most dangerous for workers in the Ukrainian economy. The March will conclude at 3pm with a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of Ukraine.

               WE CALL ON ALL OUR COLLEAGUES, BROTHERS AND SISTERS FROM TRADE UNIONS AROUND THE WORLD TO SUPPORT US IN OUR MARCH OF MEMORY AND SEND LETTERS OF SOLIDARITY BETWEEN APRIL 28 AND MAY 4 2008. TEXT AND ADDRESSES FOLLOW:

   Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of Ukraine

   Ul. Esplanadnaya 8/10

   Kyiv, UKRAINE 01033

   Fax: +38 044 289 00 98

   Email: info@mlsp.gov.ua

   Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

   Ul. Grushevskogo st. 12/2

   Kyiv Ukraine 01008

   Fax: +38 044 254 05 84

   e-mail:pr@kmu.gov.ua

   support the Youth Council of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine in their March of Memory on April 28, 2008, as well as the demands of Ukrainian Unions to improve health and safety in the workplaces of all Ukrainians.

   Ukraine is an extremely dangerous country when it comes to worker health and safety. More than 20,000 Ukrainian workers were the victims of work-related traumas and professional illnesses in 2007, according to official statistics. Based on information held by trade unions, that number is 100 times greater, and as high as 2 million people.

   Ukraine is the most dangerous country in which to be a miner. In comparison with the United States, in Ukraine 200 more miners die mining the equivalent amount of coal. It is cheaper for employers to buy official permission to ignore health and safety measures, than to invest money in modernizing and increasing the safety levels of the mines.

   Putting their employees at risk of loss of life and limb, employers themselves risk almost nothing – even material compensation provided for workers' losses is not paid from employers' pockets, but from a special governmental insurance fund.

   We call on the Ukrainian Government:

   - To change existing legislation in order to provide trade unions with the right of meaningful oversight of health and safety in workplaces;

   - To bring Ukrainian legislation on health and safety to meet, at a minimum, the standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and to fulfill the requirements of ILO conventions already ratified by Ukraine;

   - To strengthen the punishments of employers who violate health and safety requirements. Those in management whose systematic and conscious actions or inactions result in workplace traumas, should be removed from their positions. In the case of criminal actions resulting in the trauma and death of workers, employers must face criminal punishment;

   - To create a full-fledged, effective governmental organ, with wide-ranging enforcement powers, that will answer exclusively for the state of workplace health and safety.