Trade union leaders in Aberdeen are to hold a memorial service in honour of workers who have died or been injured because of their job.
Aberdeen Trades Union Council (ATUC) has organised the socially-distanced memorial service, which will be held in Persley Walled Garden at 11.50am tomorrow.
Representatives from a number of affiliated unions will gather to remember those who have died, been injured or become ill as a result of their work.
The event has been organised to commemorate International Workers’ Memorial Day.
ATUC president Graeme Farquhar said there would be particular focus on remembering those who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This will be a particularly poignant event this year after fourteen months of the Covid pandemic where so many have lost their lives, many of them through their work,” he said.
“Countless others have been made ill, with many suffering the effects of Long Covid which leaves them unable to return to work for a long time. We know that our black and minority ethnic colleagues have been hit particularly hard, as have our disabled colleagues.
“We will mourn for the many who have died in this pandemic, many of whose deaths were completely avoidable if the right protections had been in place at the start. We will fight to ensure that this can never happen again and to make sure that those who are still suffering the effects of Covid are treated with compassion by their employers and their employment rights upheld.
“As we come out of Covid we must ensure that working environments are very different and put the health, safety and wellbeing of workers and service users at their core. Whether you work in the public sector or in the private sector, the employers’ duty to protect its workforce must take priority over any economic considerations.
“We will always remember the dead, and continue to fight for the wellbeing of the living.”