Monday, April 28, Is Workers Memorial Day
Plan Your Observance Now
April 22, 2014
Every year on April 28, the APWU and other unions observe Workers Memorial Day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job — and to renew our commitment to safer workplaces.
Four decades ago, in response to pressure from the labor movement, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, promising every worker the right to a safe job.
Since then, unions and our allies have fought hard to make that promise a reality — winning protections that have made jobs safer. More than 492,000 workers’ lives have been saved since OSHA was enacted in 1970, according to an AFL-CIO report, and millions of workplaces injuries and illnesses have been prevented.
Despite the improvements, however, 385,000 workers have been killed on the job. Today, safe work practices are threatened as employers cut corners, shirk responsibility for implementing safeguards, and oppose workers’ rights.
Ergonomic hazards, the major source of workplace injury and illness, have no standard since OSHA’s November 2000 ergonomics regulation was repealed by Congress and President George W. Bush. New standards are needed on silica, coal dust, combustible dust, infectious diseases and numerous other hazards.
Meanwhile, millions of American workers remain at risk every time they clock-in: According to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4,383 workers were killed by traumatic injuries and an estimated 50,000–60,000 died from occupational diseases in 2012. Three million injuries and illnesses were reported in private-sector workplaces, and an additional 792,700 injuries and illnesses were reported among state and local public employees.
For more about the many hazards faced by American workers, see the AFL-CIO’s Death on the Job Report.
USPS Hazards
Postal workers continue to face significant hazards on the job every day. In the past decade, USPS employees have been killed or seriously injured in incidents involving mechanized equipment at mail processing plants, robberies at retail facilities, vehicular accidents on the road or at loading docks, and while delivering mail.
In fiscal year 2013, 13 postal workers died from job-related accidents and 38,847 others were injured or sickened from occupational hazards, according to OSHA.
Unsafe working conditions are worsened by recent plant consolidations, cutbacks to the workforce, and management policies that are paving the way for privatization, APWU president Mark Dimondstein said following the death of Tyson Barnette, a 26-year-old Maryland Letter Carrier, was killed while delivering mail well after dark on Nov. 22.in reference to a memorial vigil for Barnette. “Mail now arrives at carrier stations later, pushing delivery times into the evening, and stations are understaffed,” he said.
In a victory for postal workers last year, the union signed an unprecedented nationwide agreement with the Department of Labor and the Postal Service that settled a series of complaints initiated by the APWU regarding electrical safety hazards. The agreement followed a four-year campaign by the APWU and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) to force postal management to address egregious electrical safety hazards at postal facilities across the country.
Despite the settlement, dangers persist. The union has been informed that the USPS has failed electrical safety audits and is violating some of the terms of the settlement.
The lesson: Workplace safety requires constant vigilance.
Participate in a Memorial Day Event.
To help spread the message that Safe Jobs Save Lives, the AFL-CIO is working with member unions and state and local labor councils to coordinate dozens of events around the country on Monday, April 28. The events will feature vigils for workers who died on the job this year as well as speakers calling for more effective safety measures and stronger workers’ rights.
“I encourage every APWU local to observe Workers Memorial Day event this year,” said Dimondstein. “Just as we ‘mourn for the dead,’ we must 'fight for the living.’”
Click here to find a Workers Memorial Day Event near you.
Click here if you would like to organize an event.
For more information and to obtain materials, visit the Workers Memorial Day page on the AFL-CIO’s web site.
Please send photos and reports about this year’s Workers Memorial Day events to photos@apwu.org.