One injury per minute, one death every eight hours, on average 3 deaths per day in the workplace. This is stated by the data from the Workers’ Survey carried out by the Piepoli Institute for the Ugl trade union, on the occasion of the May 1st Workers’ Day according to which 55% of workers negatively evaluate the attention paid by their company to safety issues on the workplace. Work.
These are numbers that coincide with Inail’s data on unrelated deaths in 2023: there were 1,041 reports of deaths at work in 12 months. Inail estimates that there have been 15 multiple fatal accidents, those in which two or more workers lost their lives such as the Brandizzo massacre in which a group of workers was hit on the tracks in Piedmont.
Mattarella
On the occasion of May Day he returned to talk about this daily massacre the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella: «We cannot accept the continuous drip of deaths, caused by carelessness, imprudence, risks that should not have been taken. A thousand deaths at work in a year represent an unimaginable tragedy. Each of them is unacceptable.”
May 1st 2024
On this May Day, CGIL, CISL, UIL and CISL are holding a joint demonstration in Monfalcone and the three leaders will speak from the stage. The traditional event, this year, is dedicated to Europe. After the interventions of the delegates of the three Organizations, the General Secretaries, Maurizio Landini, Luigi Sbarra and PierPaolo Bombardieriwill conclude the rallies, speaking from the stage from 12 to 1 pm.
In the afternoon the traditional Concertone which, for the first time, will not be able to take place in Piazza San Giovanni, due to the works scheduled for the Jubilee. He will move to the Circus Maximus.
History
Every May Day we honor those who fought for rights at work, first of all those with limited and pre-established hours: 8 hours a day which has existed in Italy since 1923. This day, among non-religious holidays, is one of the most celebrated in the world. The first workers’ day would be dated September 5, 1882. On that day the Knights of Labor organized a demonstration in New York, two years later they established that the demonstration should take place every year. However, it is not in May and in fact in the USA it is celebrated on a different date.
The date
The date commemorates the incidents in the first days of May 1886, during the revolt of Haymarket, Chicago. Police shot striking workers in front of the McCormick agricultural machinery factory. In protest the anarchists organized a demonstration in Haymarket square, the agricultural machinery market square. There were clashes with the police who fired again. In November 1887 twelve people, workers, trade unionists and anarchists were hanged for the demonstrations of the previous year.
In the world
The Second Socialist International welcomed the date of May Day as Workers’ Day in 1889 in Paris. It arrived in Italy two years later. During fascism the holiday was suppressed in favor of the Italian Labor Day to be celebrated on April 21st. Workers’ Day is not everywhere on May Day. In the United States, precisely where the first demonstrations of the workers’ struggle took place, it is not celebrated in spring, but on the first Monday of September. American Labor Day was born in Canada, following the demands of the Nine-Hour Movement. The first celebration in the USA was in 1882 and the holiday was made official 12 years later.
