April 28: Workers Memorial Day
Frisco/Getty Images
Workers Memorial Day honors those who have lost their lives on the job, while recognizing the evolving successes of workplace safety efforts—in the federal government, led by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), now pressing for improvements for five decades. Government and unions are marking the day.
Back in 1970, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act—which was followed up by the creation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and kicking off an era of much higher levels of workplace safety than ever before.
Workplace dangers continue. But with so much improvement brought on by the act, many workers and communities are celebrating the day set aside to mark the event and the half-century of better safety: Workers Memorial Day.
“On April 28, OSHA and the nation annually recognize Workers Memorial Day,” the Department of Labor announced. “The day honors those who lost their lives on the job, and recognizes the impact these tragic losses have on families, co-workers and communities. It also affirms OSHA's commitment to worker safety and health.”
Various federal employee unions and organizations are also marking the day—for example, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), one of the country’s largest unions and certainly one whose members face considerable work hazards that need ongoing mitigation.
“Workers Memorial Day marks the anniversary of the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), which went into effect 50 years ago,” as Mark Dimondstein, president of APWU, notes in a release. “It is a day to remember workers killed or injured at work and to redouble our fight to secure safe workplaces for all.”
“This year’s Workers Memorial Day takes on special significance after two years of working through this terrible pandemic that has deeply affected all of us,” Dimondstein adds. The union leader is pressing all postal workers to “identify safety issues” on the job and at their local facilities. APWU provides easy links on its site for reporting and putting right the safety problems.
As we think of those we have needlessly lost and who have suffered from COVID-19, let’s also recommit ourselves to organizing for safe workplaces. The best way to make changes at work is by joining together and demanding management provide a safe work environment for all employees.
Other major labor organizations are also recognizing the date.
“On April 28, the labor movement will once again observe Workers Memorial Day to remember workers killed or injured on the job and to renew the fight for strong safety and health protections,” the AFL-CIO said on its website, which also listed scores of events where union members, workers of all stripes and communities are commemorating the day.
That union’s website also posted a copy of a new and wide-ranging research report detailing the ongoing toll of workplace deaths and injuries. The report also notes very real progress—and that the OSH Act has saved nearly 650,000 workers’ lives over these past decades. Such claims are further reflected and broken down in detail, by reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics among other sources.
“No worker should risk avoidable injury, illness, or even death in the course of doing their job,” President Biden said in a statement. “Ensuring worker safety is a national priority and a moral imperative. On this Workers Memorial Day, we honor and remember those who lost their lives on the job and reaffirm every worker’s basic right to a safe and healthy workplace.”