218 coffins in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna. Zuppi’s warning: white deaths cause scandal
Shock initiative by Uil: 218 cardboard coffins placed in front of San Petronio to raise citizens' awareness of the emergency of deaths at work. Zuppi's message: "Safety is a duty, not a cost".
BOLOGNA – An expanse of cardboard coffins on the Crescentone: 218, to be precise, as many as the workplace deaths recorded in Emilia-Romagna from 2022 to today. Just over a month after the massacre at the Enel power plant in Suviana, which cost the lives of seven workers, Uil brings to Bologna (after Rome, Naples, Florence and Milan) the shock initiative which aims to turn the spotlight on the emergency white deaths in Italy.
“SAFETY A DUTY, NOT A COST”
“Work is life and must be for the life and dignity of people. If it becomes a cause of death and leads to exploitation and injustice, this must generate unanimous and convinced revulsion” , writes Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the CEI and archbishop of the Emilian capital, in the message read on the stage set up by the union in Piazza Maggiore. “Three fatal accidents at work a day in Italy is too high a number. And it doesn’t seem to be decreasing. Safety requires investments, controls, prevention systems that help and not penalize. These are not optional investments. If safety it is seen as an additional, annoying and useless cost, it means that we are irresponsibleThis is where tragedies come from”, warns Zuppi. “Work and death must never embrace each other. Victims at work are a scandal. Safety is not a cost or a luxury, but a duty to which a right corresponds“, says the Archbishop of Bologna.
SHAKE THE CONSCIENCES
“Too little is done, there are many words of condolence the next day, even after Suviana, but then no decisions are made. With this initiative we want to strike a blow to consciences so that politics changes pace and make decisions. Safety, unfortunately, is not a political priority, just like work. It is a tragic reality”, denounces the secretary of the Uil of Bologna and Emilia-Romagna, Marcello Borghetti<. /strong>.
“POLITICS AND BUSINESSES ACT”
“We are in a square full of coffins. Just over a week ago this square hosted a stage where we remembered the dead of Suviana. After that massacre, we saw five other people die at their workplace in Palermo. We need to make as much noise as possible, so that at a national level, the government, the business world and Parliament activate something urgent about safety in the workplace“, says the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, who returned from the stage to ask for “truth and justice” for the dead of Suviana.
UIL OBJECTIVE: ZERO DEATHS AT WORK
“Ours is a strong initiative. Bringing dozens of coffins to Italian squares serves to make everyone understand that there are many people in Italy who die at work, even in Emilia-Romagna. What we have done so far it is not enough. For Uil this campaign comes before everything else, because the objective of reaching zero deaths at work is a concrete objective. Therefore we ask for a real discussion with the government and all the institutional actors of unite: life comes before profit”, says Ivana Veronese, general secretary of Uil. “These are not numbers, but people, we must set aside profit for people’s lives”, insists the national Ital-Uil president, Giuliano Zignani. According to Inail data, in Emilia-Romagna since 2022 218 people have lost their lives in the workplace: 103 in 2022, 91 in 2023, 16 this year up to March 31, plus another eight in April .