Today is Workers’ Memorial Day — the day when we remember all those men and women who have been killed, injured or sickened on the job.
There are more of those men and women than most people probably realize; in 2007 (the most recent year for which data is available) alone, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded more than 4 million workers injured and nearly 6,000 killed on the job. In one year.
CtW Executive Director Chris Chafe shares some thoughts on what this day means:
Today, on Workers Memorial Day, Change to Win remembers and honors all those workers who lost their lives or were injured or sickened on the job. Workers like Mr. Eleazar Torres-Gomez, a 46-year old industrial laundry employee from Tulsa, Oklahoma who died tragically in 2007 when he got caught inside a dryer at Cintas Corporation - the nation’s largest industrial laundry and uniform maker. Prior to this incident, Cintas had been cited several times by OSHA for the same workplace hazard and employee training violations that led to Mr. Torres-Gomez’s death. Unfortunately, this is only one story of millions, which is why we must renew our commitment to fighting for workplace safety.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was formed in 1971 to help assure that all Americans could work in safe and healthy workplaces. And after eight long years of the Bush Administration failing to enforce laws related to workers’ rights and protections, we are excited to welcome a new Administration and Congress dedicated to protecting America’s workers. From Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, to President Obama and the Democratic-led Congress, it is clear that we have entered a new era of government for America’s workers - one that is strongly committed to protecting the interests, health and safety of all working families.
Yet in order to keep workers safe, we must continue to strengthen our laws to protect more workers by ending government indifference and corporate misbehavior. We must improve safety and health standards, close the loopholes in OSHA’s inspection programs and mandate strict follow-up enforcement actions against employers where workers were killed or injured. Congress also must pass the Protecting America’s Workers Act to give OSHA the authority necessary to make sure that employers who flagrantly violate the law not only comply with safety and health standards - but also finally face the consequences of their lawlessness. And Congress must assure that OSHA has the resources to do inspections before more workers die from employer negligence- because one worker death on the job is one death too many.
And in today’s Las Vegas Sun, Laborers’ International Union International President Terry O’Sullivan describes the steps our government needs to take to start protecting workers again:
The odds are that by the end of today in America, 15 working people will be killed on the job, victims of government and corporations which for too long have accepted workplace hazards as the cost of doing business…
For the past eight years the previous administration in Washington, D.C., extended its “on-your-own” philosophy to issues of life and death on job sites across the country.
As a result, a death on the job today costs the typical corporation only $3,675. The average penalty for a serious violation of OSHA law is a mere $921. And nearly 40 years after workplace hazards were recognized as a serious problem with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, nearly 9 million workers, including public service employees, are left out of OSHA’s protections altogether…
The outrage is that so many deaths and injuries could be easily prevented. As we commemorate Workers’ Memorial Day today, our country can do more than mourn those who are killed and injured. We can begin to solve the problem.