Workers Memorial Day April 28, 2005

April 28 is Workers Memorial Day, a day set aside each year by unions and health and safety activists around the world to remember the more than 60,000 workers who die from job injuries and illnesses and another 6 million who are injured at work each year. It's also a time to to recharge our batteries for another year of fighting to make real the guarantee of safe workplaces for all American workers.

As the AFL-CIO decides whether working conditions and workplace safety is a priority issue it is particularly important this year for union and health & safety activists to organize events or join in existing events -- to show both union leaders and corporate leaders that we have no intention of backing off the promise of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Check out the AFL-CIO Workers Memorial Day webpage for fliers, factsheets and clip art.

And check out the Hazards Workers Memorial Day website for materials from around the world.

And finally, for "inspiration" go back and re-read the Weekly Toll. For almost two years, with the invaluable help of Tammy Miser and friends, I've been listing every worker killed on the job that I can find. Behind each of these names is a wife or husband, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers who can't understand why their loved ones are no longer with them. It's a sobering read, even realizing that I'm only able to find less than half of those killed in workplace accidents, and none who die of work-related disease. The last few are here, here, here and here.

Be there on April 28.

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