Photo exhibition - Europe’s coal industries: not dead yet – Brussels 4 – 13 February

In collaboration with the Press Club Brussels, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has set up a photo exhibition to document the working conditions of trade unionists in the coal industry in Poland, Spain and Ukraine. The photo exhibition is available for free at the Press Club Brussels, rue Froissart 95, 1040 Brussels from the 4th until the 13th of February from 9 – 5pm daily.

Coal mines are not just found in history books. Although doomed to extinction due to their catastrophic impact on the environment, they remain a reality in several European countries. HesaMag wanted to see what work was like in a coal mine and get to know the views of trade unionists working in the sector. We found a mixture of pride in a mythical trade, denial of the negative effects on the miners’ personal health and the environment, and sometimes naive trust in technical solutions and pacts with the sector’s employers. Nevertheless, the views of these miners take on a different sense when regarded alongside the photos featured in this magazine.

Photographs have been taken by Sadak Souici. Born in Paris in 1980, the French photographer offers a new perspective on urban planning, architecture and photojournalism. He photographed workers in the coal industry for an article called Europe’s coal industries: not dead yet, written by Mathieu Glowacki and Sébastien Gobert. This resulted in incredibly interesting and exclusive photo material which deserves to be shown to the wider public in a standalone exhibition.

HesaMag is a magazine all about health and safety at work. It is published twice a year, in English and French, and sets out to show that occupational health is not just something for specialists but both a big political issue and a daily concern for millions of workers. Find here more information.