The full respect of workers' dignity
is an objective that has not been fully achieved, President
Sergio Mattarella said on Thursday in a message to mark the 68th
anniversary of the Marcinelle mining disaster that claimed the
lives of 262 people, including 136 Italian migrant workers, in
Belgium on August 8, 1956, and the 23rd anniversary of the
National day of sacrifice of Italian work in the world.
"From its first article, the Constitution of the Republic
establishes an ideal unbreakable bond between democracy and
work.
"The full respect of workers' dignity is a fundamental
principle, also affirmed at an international level. An objective
which, however, has not been fully achieved", the president
said.
"For the past 23 years, the date of the mining disaster of
Marcinelle of 1956 has given life to the National day of
sacrifice of Italian work in the world.
"The impact of the tragedy which 68 years ago shocked 262
families - of which 136 were Italian - gave it a very strong
symbolic value.
"What occurred at Bois du Cazier is thus a call to remember the
sacrifice of all Italian workers who died abroad while
undertaking their professional activity and to those who
contributed with their labour to countries including faraway
ones", the president noted.
Mattarella went on to say that working "in safety is the first
elementary condition.
"Marcinelle and other tragedies that involved Italian migrants
in five continents still represent today a key warning to
promote the dignity of labour, an irrevocable value of our
community's identity", concluded the president, expressing
solidarity to the families, friends and colleagues of workers
killed on the job at Bois du Cazier and in other parts of the
world.
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