All over the world workers and their representatives conduct events, demonstrations, vigils and a whole host of other activities to mark the day.

In the UK Workers’ Memorial Day is now officially recognised by the government. So your local council and public bodies may well wish to fly official flags at half-mast, local religious centres are including commemoration in their worship, and purple “forget-me-not” ribbons are being distributed up and down the country.

Wreath-laying events have been taking place all day across the country – from Edinburgh and Clydebank in Scotland, to Jersey and Guersney. A commemoration in Wolverhampton was held at 12.30pm at the Cenotaph in front of the Civic Centre and St Peters’ church, along with a balloon release. Chelmsford is hosting a rally Central Park, along with a Health & Safety Exhibition in Chelmsford Library’s Public Square. These are just some of a huge range of events being held across the UK. For more details of events near you visit the TUC listings here.

Up and down the country workplaces are holding a one minute’s silence. If nothing has been organised at your workplace this year – then maybe have your own brief moment of thought instead. And maybe spend a few minutes thinking about health & safety in your workplace. What works? What doesn’t? And how can changes be made?

For today, as the cry goes, we: “remember the dead, but fight like hell for the living”.

So what does that mean? It’s the day when, according to official statistics, the average person who does unpaid overtime stops working for free, and starts to earn for themselves. Along with lots of other unions led by the TUC, we think that is a day we should celebrate. So what can you do to mark the day?

• Above all, for at least that one day, work only your proper contracted hours
• Take a proper lunch-break, not just a sandwich at your desk
• Arrive on time having not touched your email or turned up early to “just get sorted”
• Leave on time and enjoy your freedom and your own life on Friday evening

For more ideas visit the official website: www.workyourproperhoursday.com

The costs

Let’s take a look at the figures:

• employees who do unpaid overtime in UK on average do an extra seven hours twelve minutes work a week
• they would take home an extra £5,402 a year if they were paid the average wage!
• or … another way of looking at it: these employees contributed a whacking great £27.4 billion worth of unpaid overtime in 2009.

Brendan Barber from the TUC said:
Most employers are understandably focused on fighting their way through the recession. But they shouldn’t overlook working cultures such as pointless presenteeism – keeping people at their desks for no good reason. Regular over-long hours cause stress and damage people’s health and productivity – they’re bad for staff and bad for business too.

Visit the website now to find out more, download posters, send your friends e-cards, and take part in the long hours advice quiz.

And above all – make sure you enjoy your own free time on Friday. Tell us what you’re doing to celebrate!

www.workyourproperhoursday.com

As well as affirming the importance of the Every Child Matters agenda, the motion – which has now been voted on and carried, and is therefore TUC policy – called for appropriate machinery to ensure fair pay and conditions of employment for staff throughout the children’s workforce.

The motion also confirmed the need for continued specialist professional supervision for practitioners multi-disciplinary teams, and the requirement to broaden the debate over modern holistic approaches to child development, including social pedagogy.