The International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World – an international, independent labour union – sends its solemn and sincere condolences on this April 28th International Workers' Memorial Day to the loved ones of workers killed on the job and solidarity with injured workers everywhere. In particular, we would like to send condolences to the friends and family of Fellow Worker Ryan Boudreau, a bike messenger and IWW Chicago Couriers Union member whose life was tragically cut short in a fatal collision on August 13, 2007.

We recognize that, according to statistics compiled by the International Labour Organization, each year more than two million men and women die as a result of work-related accidents and illnesses every year while occupational accidents claim over 270 million victims. Work kills more people than wars! Speed-ups, increased working hours, and short-cuts in safety procedures, designed to maximize production and profit, severely compromise the health and safety of the working class to the benefit of the boss class. Cutbacks and red-tape in workers compensation and precarious employment conditions with little or no benefits often drive injured workers into a downward spiral of poverty and destitution. Factories and workplaces are outsourced globally to regions with lenient labour regulations while workers' rights are regarded as "barriers to trade".

We also recognize that the basic, minimal rights that workers have gained were not granted by enlightened bosses or politicians. Rather, they were won through courageous struggle and direct action. One significant instance of this was the massive wildcat strike by uranium miners in Elliot Lake, northern Ontario, Canada in 1974. The strike was prompted by the ab normally high rates of cancer in uranium miners and led to major improvements in workers health and safety throughout the country. Countless other workplace struggles have contributed to the implementation of health and safety measures worldwide, often through work stoppages, slowdowns, and independent shopfloor action.

Only the vigilance, organization, and international solidarity of the working class can preserve and extend these basic workers' rights against the bosses drive for growth, production, and profit at any expense. Ultimately, only the reorganization of economic life on the basis of production for use, and recognition of labour as a means towards the fulfilment of our collective needs and desires, will ensure the well being of workers everywhere.

AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!