Left MEPs Marina Mesure, Anthony Smith (La France Insoumise, France), and Hanna Gedin (Vänsterpartiet, Sweden) hosted a critical two-day event addressing the pervasive yet underrepresented issue of workplace deaths in Europe. The event brought together MEPs, trade unions, and activists to examine the scale of the problem and advocate for systemic changes to ensure workers’ safety.

Workplace fatalities represent a silent crisis across Europe, claiming thousands of lives each year. These deaths are the predictable, preventable result of systemic failures that prioritize profits over people. Sectors such as construction, agriculture, transportation, and healthcare are especially deadly, where precarious contracts, relentless work rates, and unsafe conditions have become the norm. Weak enforcement of safety laws and a lack of accountability from employers allow these tragedies to persist, disproportionately affecting vulnerable workers, including people-on-the-move workers and low-wage earners.

It is a political choice to leave workers unprotected, we need an urgent collective action to prioritize lives over profit. Workers’ rights are non-negotiable, every person deserves dignity, safety, and protection in the workplace, without exception or compromise.

During the Stop Death at Work event, notable contributions were made by members of National Parliaments and representatives from key organizations, including CGT, ETUI, Collectif Familles – Stop Death at Work, Hadrien Clouet and Bérenger Cernon (French MPs from La France Insoumise), ETUC, Association Les Cordistes en Colère, Solidariska Byggare, Kommunal trade unionist the 3F Union and EPSU. These speakers shared vitals insights on the challenges and solutions to ensuring workplace safety.