Over the coming weeks, a series of campaign leaflets will highlight key workplace hazards and call on employers to take urgent action to protect workers. The campaign will mobilise trade unions and workers across Europe, and will cuminate in a European Gate Action Week Day from 23 to 27 March.

As Europe accelerates its domestic battery production, industriAll Europe is issuing a clear demand: workers' health and safety must keep pace. An industrial transition is only a just one if the people driving it are protected.

European leaders have identified the battery industry as a cornerstone of the green transition, with an ever-growing workforce. Yet despite this growth, the industry suffers from low trade union density, even as it exposes workers to some of the most hazardous conditions in modern manufacturing.
Every day, thousands of workers in battery plants face serious risks from toxic chemicals, high-voltage equipment, and extreme environmental conditions. Of particular concern is exposure to hazardous substances and carcinogens, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and their chemical compounds. Both short-term and prolonged exposure can cause respiratory illness, skin irritation, and long-term conditions such as cancer.

For trade unions, protecting worker wellbeing is non-negotiable. That is why we push for ambitious occupational safety and health legislation and, crucially, for its enforcement. The responsibility for a safe workplace lies squarely with the employer, and we are committed to empowering workers to hold them accountable at the shop-floor level.

There are already examples of success. Last week, talks started between management and workers at a Samsung power plant in Hungary. These workers had organised and affiliated with the Federation of Trade Unions of the Chemical, Energy & Allied Workers (VDSZ) after an article exposed how Samsung management put their health at risk through undeclared toxic emissions.

This is a powerful testament to what collective action can achieve and a model we must replicate across the continent. To drive this change through, our Putting Trade Union Power into European Batteries project is launching this dedicated campaign on occupational safety and health (OSH).
Throughout the coming weeks, we will publish a series of flyers, each addressing a key safety risk in the sector. These materials are designed to inform both the public and our members.

The campaign will culminate in the European Gate Action Week from 23 to 27 March, during which trade union representatives across Europe will distribute the flyers at their workplaces, delivering a unified show of strength from workers who refuse to be left behind by the green transition.

In our first campaign leaflet, we issue a clear call to all employers in the battery supply chain: take immediate action to guarantee:

•    Full compliance with all health and safety laws.
•    Proper training for all workers.
•    Preventive workplace inspections to identify and mitigate risks.
•    Worker participation in all safety planning.
•    Regular health monitoring for all employees.

The green transition must be a just transition. We will not accept a future built on the backs of workers whose health is put at risk.
Campaign leaflet ‘Safe workplaces for all’: EN HU PL SK SRB