WORKERS who lost their lives in the line of duty were remembered during a special ceremony staged in Swindon this afternoon.

Swindon TUC held a very special ceremony in Queens Park in remembrance of all the workers in Swindon who have lost their life due to industrial disease or injury at or from work. During the ceremony in the Mesothelioma Memorial Garden they placed a wreath to mark Workers’ Memorial Day.

Open to all, the event also welcomed Bob Johnson, from Swindon branch of UNISON, who read aloud a poem that he had written especially for the day.

The wreath, which featured red carnations, was placed against the monument in the garden that features a verse of Shakespeare, with a poignant message left by the TUC which read “mourn for the dead, fight for the living”.

International Workers' Memorial Day is held each year to remember those who have lost their lives or suffered serious injury while carrying out their work. It is an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work.

A spokesperson for Swindon TUC said: “Workers' Memorial Day is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace incidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisation in the fight for improvements in workplace safety.

“In 2016 the theme for the day is 'Strong Laws - Strong enforcement - Strong Unions' because across the world we are seeing growing attacks on health and safety protection, including in Britain where the Government have removed protection form millions of self-employed workers, and across Europe where the European Commission are pursuing a dangerous de-regulatory strategy.

“However strong laws are not enough if they are not going to be enforced. That is why we need proper inspections and enforcement action against those who break the laws.

"Here in the UK the number of inspections has fallen dramatically in the past five years, however in many other countries enforcement has always been non-existent.

“That is why we also need strong unions. Unionised workplaces are safer, yet the Government is trying to stop unions protecting the health and safety of their members by restricting the right of health and safety representatives to take time off to keep the workplace safer, and also trying to reduce our right to strike when things go wrong.”

The TUC coordinates activities across the country, publishing a comprehensive listing of events and suggestions.