Photo: DEEPIKA MEHTA

April 28: paying tribute to those we lost

To honor the fallen – and fight for better working conditions for the living – working families and health and safety activists set aside April 28 as Workers Memorial Day.

UAW members will mark this year’s event with rallies and memorial observances across the nation, in Canada and Puerto Rico.

Two workers at UAW-represented workplaces were killed on the job in 2009.

Jeff Malins, a toolmaker and member of UAW Local 163, worked at Detroit Diesel Corp. in Redford, Mich.

Ronald Cassady, of UAW Local 862, worked as a millwright at Ford Motor Co.’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.

We pay tribute to Malins and Cassady, and we extend our deepest sympathy to their families and friends.

Sandra Davis

Reported 2009 occupational fatalities in UAW-represented workplaces

Jeff Malins, 51, UAW Local 163 toolmaker at Detroit Diesel Corp. in Redford, Mich.

Brother Malins was working inside a machine while assisting two other toolmakers to repair a parts feeder when the machine cycled, striking and trapping his head. The machine was not locked out and an access gate with an interlock device was open. The jammed area could not be seen from outside the machine enclosure, and the problem could not be determined without observing the part injector. The interlock device was bypassed with a “cheat key,” a common and accepted practice in this facility.

Ronald Cassady, 54, UAW Local 862 millwright at Ford Motor Co.’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville

Brother Cassady was working as a groundsperson with four other millwrights removing a steel header beam while preparing to install new tooling. The 10-foot-long beam weighed about 220 pounds and was about 12 feet above the floor. A scissor lift at each end was used to access the beam and a fork lift was positioned with blades raised against the bottom to support the steel header beam. One worker in a scissors lift loosened the fasteners on the compression clip holding one end of the beam while another worker used a torch to cut the other end. As the cut was completed the beam tipped and slid to the ground striking Cassady on the head and shoulders.