There were 14 people at the Calderdale Workers’
Memorial Day event organised by Calderdale Trades Union Council and held just
outside Halifax Central Library yesterday. Amongst those who gathered was
former Halifax Labour MP Linda Riordan who also laid the wreath in memory of those killed
in the last year as a result of work.
The main
speaker was Mark Metcalf who dedicated his speech to the memory of a friend,
electrician Daniel Lee, a building and
railway worker, who died as a result of mesothelioma, which remains a major
killer, on 15 June last year. For more on Daniel watch TRACKS OF SOLIDARITY:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzZPMcSJKGQ
Mark
recalled the tragic events of the Easington Colliery disaster of 75 years on 29
May 1951 in which two of his uncles were killed alongside 81 other miners.
Mark spoke
of the heartache of losing a relative and friend and this was later brought
home when Jenny Lynn told of the death of a relative, Dave Jones, who also lost
his life to mesothelioma.
It was
noted that 70% of workplace deaths are the result of management failures and in
some cases gross negligence.
Attention
was drawn to the death locally in 2017 of Andrew Tibbott at Deco-Pak where
safety systems were deliberately disabled. 24 years earlier six people,
including lorry driver Derek Waterworth, were killed in Sowerby Bridge as a result
of excessively worn brakes that had not been maintained by his employer who
nevertheless, unlike at Deco-Pak, escaped prosecution. These cases form part of
a 2-minute film: REMEMBER THE DEAD – FIGHT FOR THE LIVING produced by Dave Hackney
and Mark Metcalf and which can be viewed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLyeMYnpVjo
The Calderdale
Trades Union Council has also highlighted the deaths of workers from the past
by recently publishing a booklet on a boiler explosion in 1850 no more than 150 yards from
the library and in which 12, mainly female and young, workers lost their lives.
The owner of the workplace though escaped any sanctions for his negligence.
Read the HE WHO WEEPS booklet at:- https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/he-who-weeps.pdf
Mick
Foster from Sowerby Bridge was able to bring much better news in that the
company who had sought permission to build an incinerator and were defeated by
a vigorous local campaign appear to have finally accepted defeat and have
removed the equipment from their site. This is a very welcome victory and shows
the power of campaigning.
Peter Keal,
treasurer of Calderdale TUC, read out the statement from Fight Against Corporate
Killers (FACK), which since 2006 has supported families and friends of those
killed in work-related incidents by negligent employers. https://gmhazards.org.uk/index.php/fack/
Nigel Smith
added to the occasion by reading out a poem. Metcalf reported how trade union organised
workplaces were safer and stressed the need for workers to join up, get organised
and elect representatives, including safety reps, to put their concerns to
management and fight for them to be carried out.
Linda
Riordan laid the wreath at the end of event that lasted around 45 minutes.
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