28 April, 2025The right to refuse unsafe work without fear of retaliation is enshrined in ILO Convention 155. Yet in some of the world’s most hazardous industries, like mining and shipbreaking, this right is still far from reality. This year on 28 April, the World day for safety and health at work, IndustriALL reaffirms that workers’ health and safety cannot be left in the hands of the employers – workers must be able to ensure their safety through joint health and safety committees, and by exercising the right to refuse work they know to be unsafe.
IndustriALL’s health and safety group is focusing on sectors where safety is too often sacrificed for profit, like in critical raw materials and shipbreaking. In these industries, workers risk their lives every day and speaking up about safety can mean losing your livelihood.
Shipbreaking is often called the world’s most dangerous job. The risks are extreme; there is a lack of training and workers face toxic exposure, falling steel plates and fatal injuries happen all too often. After a long campaign by IndustriALL and its affiliates, the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships has been ratified and will enter into force in June this year.
The entry into force of the Convention is expected to improve safety. But serious gaps remain. India has proposed national legislation to transpose the Convention into domestic legislation. It does not include any reference to the right to refuse unsafe work—despite the Convention’s intent to protect workers.
“Implemented correctly, the Hong Kong Convention has the power to transform shipbreaking into a much safer industry. But we have concerns about the political will and the capacity of the authorities in the shipbreaking countries to challenge the power of employers. Unions need to be recognised as key partners. The Convention is a top-down approach. It needs to be joined with a bottom up, worker-led approach to ensure safety at site level,”
says IndustriALL director for shipbuilding and shipbreaking Walton Pantland.
The same applies in mining, particularly in the extraction of critical raw minerals that fuel the green transition. Demand is skyrocketing for cobalt, lithium, nickel and other materials—but so are reports of accidents, cave-ins and chronic exposure to dust and chemicals. A Just Transition includes workers’ rights to refuse unsafe work; without strong protections, the human cost risk being devastating.
Says IndustriALL director for mining and occupational health and safety, Glen Mpufane:
“The right to refuse unsafe work is not a privilege; it is a core right, recognized by the ILO and backed by international law. As IndustriALL we will continue to fight for a better tomorrow with a focus on risk assessments and a rights based human centred approach to occupational health and safety.”
28 April is also known as International workers’ memorial day. We remember the dead and fight for the living, and recommit to the fight for safer workplaces. This year, it also means confronting new and emerging threats. IndustriALL is supporting ITUC’s call for urgent action to safeguard workers' lives and rights in the age of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI).
As artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly deployed in workplaces, it is not always used to support workers, but to monitor, control and even exploit them. Although AI may be driven by data, its impact is deeply human and risk deepen existing power imbalances. Protecting workers’ rights in the age of AI means ensuring transparency, accountability and that safety and dignity are not sacrificed in the name of efficiency.
The ITUC is calling for:
- Full involvement of unions in the design and deployment of workplace AI
- Transparent, human-centred technology that upholds rights and safety
- A binding ILO Convention on platform work to protect all workers in the digital economy
“Artificial intelligence is not in the distant future; it is already shaping the present. The question is whether workers will have a say in how it shapes their future,”
says Kan Matsuzaki, assistant general secretary, IndustriALL Global Union.