Workers’
Memorial Day was on Sunday and while Teamsters nationwide honored their
fallen co-workers in a variety of ways, other locals are gearing up for their
own events now. Every year the labor movement commemorates Workers’ Memorial
Day as a day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to
renew the fight for safe workplaces.
On
Tuesday, April 30, Workers’ Memorial Day will be observed in New York City at
the site where Anthony Nahr, a Teamster parking attendant and member of Local 272, drowned during
Hurricane Sandy. The event will be an opportunity to mourn the loss of Nahr as
well as the many others who lost their lives at work or because of the work
they do, but it will also highlight the continued need for regulations
protecting workers and ensuring that when the workday ends, every worker
returns home safe and healthy.
The
event
will take place from 1-2 p.m. on April 30 at 92 Laight St. (at West St.) in New
York City, 10013. Participants include the New York City Central Labor Council,
the New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health (NYCOSH), AFL-CIO
and the Greater New York Labor Religion Coalition.
Other
events were held within the last few days, including one event at Teamsters
Local 404 in Springfield, Mass. Here’s more from a story
written on the Massachusetts events:
Union officials and other labor leaders
gathered Thursday to remember fallen police officers, firefighters, soldiers
and others killed in the line of work on Workers’ Memorial Day.
The event is an international day of
mourning for those who have died in the workplace, although some take the
occasion to commemorate the passing of the Occupational Safety and Health Act,
which was approved by Congress in 1970.
Speakers read the names of 41 workers
in Massachusetts who died on the job in 2012 and early 2013. They included
Springfield police officer Kevin Ambrose, a 36-year veteran of the
force who was shot to death in June 2012 while responding to a call for a
domestic disturbance at an apartment on Lawton Street.
Firefighters and fishermen made up a
good part of the list, along with several tree workers. It also included three
members of the armed services who died in Afghanistan.
