Related Articles

Workers Memorial Day April 28

No worker should die on the job without being remembered. No worker should risk life and limb to earn a living. These are the themes of Workers Memorial Day, April 28, a day of remembrance initiated in 1989 by the unions of the AFL-CIO, which has spread around the world.

April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the United States and the day of similar remembrance in Canada.

President Edwin D. Hill encourages local unions to join or initiate local commemorations of Workers Memorial Day. He says, "Our very founder, Henry Miller, was killed in an industrial accident. Our union grew as it addressed the frequent electrocutions of building trades workers at the turn of the century. A healthy and safe workplace should always be a prime focus of IBEW unionism."

Each year, says Hill, more than 6,000 workers are killed on the job and more than 50,000 are injured or become sick, according to AFL-CIO statistics. As federal budgets protecting worker safety and health are cut, he says, it is even more important to put a higher profile on safety.

In 1996, a global union delegation at the United Nations in New York lit a commemoration candle on April 28 to highlight the plight of workers who die, are injured or become ill from work-related toxins. Since then, Workers Memorial Day has been observed in nearly one hundred countries. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have officially endorsed the holiday.

Eleven countries or territories formally recognize April 28 as a national observance day: Argentina, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Taiwan.

Over the years, numerous communities have dedicated plaques, sites and monuments to workers who have lost their lives because of dangerous working conditions. A list of such monuments, can be viewed on the AFL-CIO Web site.