Workers Memorial Day
Honor the dead, fight for the living
A 26-year-old mold operator from Seabrook, N.H., with just six years’ seniority. A 52-year-old millwright with 32 years on the job from Sparta, Mich.
It doesn’t matter how old you are, where you live or how many years you’ve worked. One day, like them, you might not come home.
Aron Stanwood died when part of the mold from his injection molding machine came loose and crushed him. He died four days after the accident.
John Aue was checking for leaking bags in an unlighted dust collector when he fell 30 feet down an unguarded air duct.
These were two of the nine UAW members and 6,000 other U.S. workers who were killed on the job in 2002. Some 60,000 more died from occupational diseases last year.
All victims of occupational hazards will be remembered again this year at local commemorations of Workers Memorial Day on April 28. The first Workers Memorial Day was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the birth of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Union workers in nearly 100 countries now observe this date as an International Day of Mourning for all workers who died from merely doing their jobs.
In 2002, 50 UAW locals across the country organized Workers Memorial Day events, ranging from plant shutdowns to flag lowerings to memorial services in public parks.
Workers Memorial Day is not just a day to mourn the dead. It is mostly a time to re-dedicate ourselves to fight for the living. The fight to protect workers has gotten harder as the Bush administration joined with business groups to roll back, block or stall many needed health and safety protections.
With this administration cutting back on OSHA’s enforcement budget, slashing federal funds for job safety research and rejecting higher standards for ergonomics and chemical exposures (see Safer Work), more workers will die or suffer lifelong crippling injuries to their bones, muscles, lungs and other organs.
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