29-04-2025
Dozen gather in Perry Square to honor Workers Memorial Day
Two rings of a bell filled Erie City Hall Monday night to remember the life of Igor Akopyan, an Erie man who died after falling down an elevator shaft while working in a West 12th Street business.
On Monday, dozens of community members came to hear those bells for the 39th annual Workers Memorial Day service, an event that remembers all of those like Akopyan who died from a work-related incident.
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'Overall, the importance of having an event like this is awareness. The more people are aware of the dangers that workers face, the more likely we are to do what we need to do to fix those problems, make sure that OSHA is properly funded,' said Bryan Churchill, president of the Erie-Crawford Central Labor Council.
After a prayer and words from a local OSHA director, attendees took the service to a Perry Square memorial that honors those who died on the job.
While there a local honor guard gave those who died a rifle salute followed by the playing of Taps on a trumpet.
To finish the ceremony, attendees came to the memorial in Perry Square and put up a wreath to remember all those who lost their lives to work-related deaths. But the work isn't done for one local politician at least, who is trying to extend OSHA protection to public-sector workers.
'Currently, if you're a public sector worker, you don't have the same protections, so a classic example is let's say in Erie High, they're redoing the building. You have a private company that's doing electrical work and you have school district electricians working side-by-side. Unfortunately, an accident happens, and it's the private sector worker that's injured; he is covered by OSHA,' said State House Representative (D) Pat Harkins.
Harkins said House Bill 308 just passed through the PA House three weeks ago, and if the bill makes it through the Senate, public sector workers in the state would receive OSHA protection.
He said he got involved with the bill more than ten years ago after hearing the story of Jake Schwab, an Erie worker for the EMTA who died in 2014 from a work-related incident.
As of now, the Jake Schwab Worker Safety Bill will head to Pennsylvania's Republican-controlled Senate for consideration.
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