Workers’
Memorial Day, on Sunday, April 28, is an
international day of remembrance, mourning and action for workers killed,
disabled or injured on the job. With the West,
Texas tragedy followed so closely by the collapse of
an eight-floor building in Bangladesh,
Workers’ Memorial Day has taken on increased significance this year.
The Economic
Policy Institute posted a thoughtful story
about how the two tragedies tie into Workers’
Memorial Day, also called the International
Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured. But their story reminded us why unions
are so essential. At a time when the federal government can’t afford to inspect
every workplace in a timely fashion, most corporations are not going to go out
of their way to make workers’ jobs safer.
Unions are among the only groups actively fighting
for safer work environments, and not just for their members. Unions fight for
safer workplaces for everyone. From the Economic
Policy Institute:
If you think we can
rely on businesses to self-regulate, think again. West Fertilizer, the small
business that blew up and killed fourteen people in Texas last week, declared
itself safe and estimated the chance of a catastrophic explosion at zero. They
needed someone with authority and the power to change behavior to look over
their shoulder, to look out for the workers and first responders who were most
at risk, and to look out for the school children whose schools were within the
blast radius. But no agency had or exercised that authority.
As a society, we need to pay
more attention to the safety and health of our workers. Nearly 5,000 workers were killed on the job in the United States in 2011, and an estimated 50,000 or
more died from illness or disease they contracted from on-the-job hazards such
as breathing
chlorine fumes or periacetic acid and
exposure to silica dust, asbestos, beryllium and hundreds of other hazardous substances. The cost of
these illnesses and deaths is about $250
billion—more than the cost of all cancers.
Inadequate regulation kills workers, and it costs our economy plenty.
Workers Memorial Day is
Sunday, April 28, and I hope you’ll take a moment to think about the tragedies
in Bangladesh and Texas. Take a moment to think about what kind of a country
you want and which problem you think is more serious, that regulations kill
jobs or that unregulated work kills workers.
