CTU Media Advisory

Workers Memorial Day - Sunday 28 April

Forest Families gather to remember - call to action to stop the deaths

12-2pm, Sunday, April 28

Workers who have been killed in New Zealand's forests will be remembered
at a Workers Memorial Day service in Auckland on Sunday April 28.

Workers Memorial Day is an annual global event to remember those who
have been killed while doing their job.

New Zealand has an appalling rate of death and serious injury in
forestry. It is six times higher than the UK.

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has called for an inquiry into
the most dangerous industry in NZ - since 2008, 23 workers have died and
almost 900 have been seriously injured.

"New Zealand forests are killing workers at a rate that is not
acceptable. Things need to change. These men cannot keep going to work
and being killed. There are serious health and safety issues around this
industry including the fact that almost all the foresters are
contractors and are working unsafe long hours," says CTU President Helen
Kelly.

"There are exhausted and working in unsafe conditions to keep food on
the table for their families."

Six families of the workers who have died, including their children,
will be at the service in Auckland. They are flying from all over New
Zealand to attend. It is time the stories of these workers were told.

"Already this year there have been three men killed in our forests and
four seriously harmed. Yet the issues of health and safety are still not
being addressed. We need urgent action on this issue. We want an inquiry
along the lines of Pike River. We owe it to the families who have lost
their loved ones."

ends

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