National Memorial Dedicated to Fallen Workers
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| On Workers Memorial Day, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka take part in a dedication for a national workers memorial at the National Labor College. |
The names were repeated in a chorus of tragedy. Conrad Johnson, a bus driver killed by a sniper while taking a rest break. Linda Redman, a factory worker who died a slow, painful death from “popcorn lung” disease. An elevator operator killed when an elaveator crushed him on the job. Thirteen coal miners killed by an explosion when they went into a mine to rescue injured co-workers.
Today, on Workers Memorial Day, these and dozens more workers were remembered by their co-workers, family and friends who placed bricks in their memory as part of the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new national workers memorial at the National Labor College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md.
Hundreds of people who lost a loved one who was killed on the job have sponsored bricks for the memorial, which will be constructed in the center of the NLC campus.
Solis Set to Announce Two Key Job Safety and Health Rules
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will announce today that the Labor Department is moving forward to develop two new major workplace safety rules to protect workers from combustible dust explosions—such as the one that killed 13 workers at a Georgia sugar plant last year—and from a dangerous chemical that causes “popcorn lung,” according to the Associated Press (AP). The rules could take up to a year or two to finalize.
Solis will make the announcement at a Workers Memorial Day ceremony this afternoon at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md. We will bring you a report from the event, that includes breaking ground for a new national workers memorial later today.
New Job Safety Bill, Workers Memorial Day Events at Labor Dept., Labor College
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Fantastic news from Congress this week as we move closer to commemorating Workers Memorial Day on April 28. A new bill, the Protecting America’s Workers Act (H.R. 2067), introduced yesterday, will strengthen and modernize the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
How great it is to see the strong commitment by the Obama administration and the new Congress to worker safety and health after eight years of neglect and scorn for worker safety by the Bush White House.
This Workers Memorial Day, family members of workers killed on the job will join with safety and health activists in Washington, D.C., to attend two congressional hearings on workplace safety and health and gather for a Workers Memorial Day observance and rally at 8 a.m. on the front steps of the Department of Labor. Later that day, at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., we will join with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis for a groundbreaking of a new national workers memorial.
Labor Secretary to Honor Fallen Workers on Workers Memorial Day
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Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who has made worker safety and health a priority, will join workers, union leaders, elected officials and college staff to commemorate Workers Memorial Day by helping break ground for a new national workers memorial at the National Labor College (NLC) campus in Silver Spring, Md.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts and NLC President William Scheuerman will Join Solis at the ceremony. The public also is invited to attend.
The April 28 ceremony will be followed by a traditional candle-lighting ceremony and honoring of all fallen workers. Workers Memorial Day, April 28, is the day workers in the United States and around the world honor those killed and injured on the job and call for improved workplace safety.
Check Out Workers Memorial Day Via Facebook
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Workers Memorial Day is April 28 and as part of the preparation for the events and ceremonies to honor workers who have been killed or injured on the job—and to demand improved workplace safety—the AFL-CIO has set up a special Workers Memorial Day Facebook page.
On the just-created page, you can connect with other workplace safety activists, learn about Workers Memorial Day events in your area, or reach out to others to help organize actions where you live. The page also has a gallery of Workers Memorial Day posters from previous years.
If you are not are not already a Facebook member, it’s a simple, free process to register. If you are a Facebook member or have your own page, don’t forget to post the Workers Memorial Day information in your profile or on your page. That will help generate a community of people concerned about workplace safety.
Workers Memorial Day 2009 Materials Ready Now
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For many of America’s workers, going to work can literally be deadly. The most recent edition of the AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect shows that an average of 15 workers a day were killed on the job and each day, another 11,000 workers were injured or made ill in 2007. Overall in 2007 (the latest figures available), 5,488 workers died from workplace injuries and 4.0 million were hurt or made sick by their jobs.
Recent studies have shown that the workplace injury reports may miss as many as two out of three workplace injuries, meaning that the real toll of workplace injuries is much higher than reported.
On April 28, to honor those killed and injured on the job and to call for improved workplace safety, workers in the United States and around the world will mark Workers Memorial Day. The theme of this is “Good Jobs. Safe Jobs. Give Workers a Voice for a Change.”
