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UNI Global Union joins with the rest of the labour movement in remembering Joe Hill, a migrant worker in the U.S who paid with his life for sticking to his union values and organising around America.

Joe Hill, a poet songwriter and staunch union organiser, died a hundred years ago this week. Joe was framed for murder and, despite protests from trade unionists, executed. His immortal final words were, “Don’t waste any time in mourning. Organise!”

UNI Global Union’s General Secretary Philip Jennings, who is attending a high level meeting on mega-sports events aimed at ensuring workers’ rights in places like Qatar said, “I would say to Qatar and other countries where they are organising these major sports events – all involved in the supply chain, be it sponsors, manufacturers, suppliers, beware! If you deny the rights of modern day Joe Hills then you are not credible. The spirit of Joe Hill lives on and they are not going to be trampled on by corporate greed.”

Joe Hill composed a song “The Preacher and the Slave”, with the famous lines, ‘Work and play live on hay, You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.’

Celebrations of Joe Hill’s life are being held all over the world, including Sweden where he was born.