Steve Fitzpatrick, General Secretary of the CWU, speaking on International Workers’ Memorial Day:
“On Workers’ Memorial Day we remember all of those who have been killed, disabled or injured at work. On this Workers’ Memorial Day we find ourselves in the grip of a pandemic which is having a long and lasting impact on workers and their families. We have seen thousands of workers around the world die from this pandemic. We have also witnessed many more workers putting themselves on the frontline and going above and beyond what duty requires. This includes many of our own members and on this day, as well as remembering the dead, we salute these workers and their efforts.
At 11am this morning the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, will honour these workers when he lays a wreath at the Plough and Stars monument in Áras and Uachtaráin, in the presence of five frontline workers including a representative of the An Post staff, Gerry Sexton.
In addition we are inviting members and the general public to participate in an evening event “Remember them All” by lighting a candle and posting images to social media at 9pm tonight. The details of both of these events are on our Facebook page.
On this day let’s take the opportunity to remember all those workers who have lost their lives and also thank those who continue to risk their lives to fight for a safer workplace for us all”