Occupational safety and health should be recognised as “a fundamental right”, the Bermuda Public Services Union declared.

The BPSU joined labour groups worldwide with UNI Global Union, a global unions federation, in marking World Day for Decent Work on Thursday.

Unions highlighted health and safety to the International Labour Organisation, as well as the efforts by unions to protect workers during the pandemic.

The BPSU said “workers everywhere have a right to a union and to independently elected safety and health committees”.

It said workers’ health was better protected with a safety representative available on the job to raise concerns and get training and answers, free from fear of retaliation.

The BPSU said some safety standards or regulations were outdated, with new issues including workers’ “right to disconnect” from electronic surveillance.

The union called for more countries to designate Covid-19 as an occupational disease to ramp up protections on the job.

The BPSU added that action by the ILO would advance unions’ role in keeping work safe.