Next Tuesday (April 28th) is Workers Memorial Day, when people around the world remember workers killed and injured on the job and call for improved workplace safety and health.
Here in DC, weâre marking the occasion with a rally in front of the Department of Labor, then a march to the House and Senate hearing chambers. Committees from both the House and Senate will be holding hearings on worker safety, and The Pump Handleâs own Celeste Monforton will be testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety.
Details on this event and others in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Ukiah are below. (Note that Philadelphiaâs event is tomorrow, and LAâs is Saturday â the rest are on Tuesday.) If you have info on any other events, please post it in the comments.
UPDATE: Tammy at United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities has compiled listings of Worker Memorial Day events around the country – just check out her page for complete details!
Washington, DC
Join workplace health advocates and family members who’ve lost loved ones in workplace disasters for a rally outside the Department of Labor on Worker Memorial Day (200 Constitution Ave. NW). The rally will start at 8am, and then we’ll march to the Senate and House hearing chambers at 9am.
We’ll be showing legislators and the public that worker health and safety needs to be a priority. It’s time to do something about the daily death toll of 17 workers killed by traumatic injuries, plus hundreds more sickened by health hazards.
At 10am, two Congressional committees will hold hearings on worker safety. Celeste Monforton will be testifying at the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety hearing (430 Dirksen Senate Office Building, First & Constitution NE). The House Education and Labor Committee will be holding a hearing at the same time.
Philadelphia, PA
Friday, April 24, 2009, 9 AM
Sheet Metal Workers Hall, 1301 S. Columbus Blvd.
8:30am: Registration
9:00: Breakfast
9:15: Speaker: Congressman Patrick Murphy
10:45: Procession to Great Plaza, Penn’s Landing; Prayer offering; Memorial remarks from family members; Reading of the names of those who died from work-related injuries and illnesses in the Tri-State area in 2008
Los Angeles, CA (Spanish flyer here)
Sponsored by SoCalCOSH & UCLA LOSH
Saturday, April 25, 2009
675 South Park View Street, LA
11:00 am: Car Decoration, Resource Fair, Live Music
11:45 am: Funeral Procession
1:00 pm: Community Forum SPEAK OUT
View a leaflet in English or Spanish
Ukiah, CA
Sponsored by North Bay Central Labor Council AFL-CIO
5:30 pmÂ
Alex Thomas Jr Plaza, School & Clay Streets, Ukiah
San Francisco, CA
Sponsored by Coalition for Workers’ Memorial Day
3:00 pm — Press Conference, 455 Mission Bay Blvd, SF
7:00 pm — Speak Out, ILWU 34, 2nd & Embarcadero, SF
Hazards Magazine has links to events taking place around the world.
For more information, check out the websites of the AFL-CIO, National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, and United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, and Worksafe.
UC Berkeley addition: 12 – 1 pm in front of the Chancellor’s office at California Hall. A small ceremony will be held in memory of Sheri Sangji — a 23-year-old UCLA staff research associate who died in January as a result of a horrific lab fire 18 days earlier; in support of a UC San Diego researcher whose pelvis and leg were crushed on April 2 in another preventable accident that nearly killed two other UC staff; and to press UC to accept a new, protective health and safety article for researchers and technical workers.
If anyone needs help posting pictures photos or audio contact me at banditelli@gmail.com. there’s also afew facebook groups you should post them to keep communication up:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/group.php?gid=170025585213&ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/pages/April-28-Day-of-Mourning/67958452428?ref=nf
I’m sure hazards and Tammy will keep their pages updated.
It’s terrible that we have to do this every year but it also gives us a chance for exposure- make sure you get local reporters to call it. Right now there’s 3 in the US who are doing as good as job as they can- that leaves thousands ignoring us.