LOCAL trade unionists met in Bury to commemorate those who have lost their lives at work.

They were joined on Workers' Memorial Day by the Mayor of Bury, Councillor Wilf Davison, to hold a minute's silence and lay wreaths in Whitehead Gardens, Bury on Wednesday.

Members say that 438 people died at work in Britain last year, a rise of 34 per cent, most of them because their employers failed to comply with the law or to manage health and safety issues properly.

A further 20,000 more died of work-related diseases and thousands were injured.

Mr Nick Chew, secretary of Bury, Radcliffe and District TUC, urged the Government to keep its manifesto promise to implement a new law of corporate killing.