Latest news with #Workers'MemorialDay
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Workers Memorial Day ceremony honors those who died on the job
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Dozens gathered at the Workers' Memorial Monument in downtown Peoria Monday for a ceremony dedicated to Workers' Memorial Day. April 28 is a day of remembrance for those who die while at the workplace. The names of those who recently died while working were listed during the event. Plenty of local unions were represented at the ceremony as well. Nancy Gardner is a trustee for the Labor Council of West Central Illinois and said it's important to honor those who died while working. 'Everyone, when they go to work, they think they're going to come home in the evening. But if they don't, there's lots of times a reason, and sometimes it's on the job,' Gardner said. April 28 is also the day the Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, was enacted in 1971. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rockford United Labor honors Workers' Memorial Day, urges safer workplaces
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Union members and advocates gathered in Rockford for Workers' Memorial Day to remember those who died on the job over the past year. The event was organized by Rockford United Labor, who represent over 25,000 workers in the area. Mayor Tom McNamara, Rep. Maurice West (D), and Sen. Steve Stadelman (D) also spoke at the event. Advocates expressed the need for more training and apprenticeships for workers, while others shared concerns about federal budget cuts and layoffs. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not been cut, but advocates say it could experience ripple effects from the closure of other agencies. Paul Nolley, the executive director of Project First Rate, said, 'Protections for workers on the job, whether it's construction or other industries, need to continue to be strengthened. And what we see, unfortunately, at this point in time, is they're actually trying to roll back those protections. So we're kind of working backwards instead of making progress on the issue.' Workers' Memorial Day is held on April 28th every year to commemorate the 1917 founding of OSHA. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
28-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Pay increases, worker safety top issues for Baltimore DPW workers after two deaths on the job
Several members of the Baltimore City Council and union leaders remembered two workers who died on the job in 2024 and vowed to improve safety and increase wages. Baltimore sanitation workers have long complained of low pay and unsafe working conditions. "We've had huge challenges with worker safety at DPW. We know that we've had workers die at DPW. We've had over 1,600 injuries in five years in the sanitation department at DPW," Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen said. DPW workers voice union concerns Conditions became so bad, some workers did not even have access to toilet paper or proper bathroom facilities. ore CBS News Baltimore The unions have come under fire from some workers who claimed they were out of touch. Several who spoke to the inspector general criticized AFSCME, saying their "presence has been non-existent, and the union has not advocated for the workers in the last few years. One worker opined that Local 44 is absent until something drastic happens, like when a worker dies…" "They're lying to you all. We are tired of them. That's why we're here," said Stancil McNair, at a heated city council legislative oversight hearing on March 20. "More of us came to this hearing than we do to a union meeting. That's sad. And they're still playing games. Still playing games." WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked the unions about these concerns. "Our goal is to protect all of you," said Antoinette Ryan-Johnson, President of City Union of Baltimore, which represents DPW supervisors. "If that means that I need to take the bow, I will do so, but we need you to be our eyes and ears." Two DPW deaths raise alarm After the deaths of Baltimore DPW employees Ronald Silver II and Timothy Cartwell in 2024, union leaders said Monday they will follow through on their promises to keep workers safe. "Today, we mourn the dead, but mourning is not enough. We fight for the living—for every worker who has been ever told to suck it up instead of speak up," said Courtney Jenkins, the president of the Metropolitan Baltimore Council of AFL-CIO unions. The city has not provided substantive updates in months on the death of Cartwell. He was crushed by a trash truck. Silver died after repeatedly begging for help in the extreme heat. "He was not replaceable," Faith Johnson, Silver's mother, said last month, her voice breaking. "He was not replaceable to us. I'm still trying to figure out how life looks without him." New safeguards are already in place statewide. The city is also implementing new heat standards. "This summer, Maryland will be only one of six states in the country that offers these protections" said Scott Schneider, the former director of occupational safety for the Laborers International Union. "It came too late for Ronald Silver, but we hope that as we remember him today on Workers' Memorial Day, his death helped prevent others from having to suffer or die of heat exposures." Fighting for pay raises Right now, union leaders and the city are negotiating pay raises. The average sanitation worker earns just 15 cents an hour in hazard pay and a little more than $42,000 annually, which many said is not enough to feed their families. Right now, union leaders and the city are negotiating pay raises. CBS News Baltimore "It is the expectation of this city council that those workers will get a raise, and it will be a meaningful raise," Cohen said. Last week, the city council president joined sanitation workers on the job. Several members of the Baltimore City Council and union leaders remembered two workers who died on the job in 2024 and vowed to improve safety and increase wages. CBS News Baltimore "It is hard work. It is backbreaking work, and they deserve more," Cohen said. The negotiations are private, and union leaders declined to comment on specific progress Monday, but Cohen noted the DPW director has committed to providing a pay increase. Just weeks ago, Baltimore City signed new contracts with top leaders, with several earning more than $250,000 a year.
Otago Daily Times
28-04-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Tribute paid to employees killed or injured at work
Karen Ferguson still remembers the day her dad, Mick Day, went to work and never came home. More than 35 years later, her emotions were still very raw, she said. "He worked for a construction company repairing things — he was a fix-it man. "But for some unknown reason, they sent him and another man down south to help demolish a bridge. "He could turn his hand at anything, so he thought he was doing the right thing by helping." He was standing on the bridge when it unexpectedly collapsed and killed him. "He was only 18 months off retiring." She said it was very difficult for her late mother and siblings to come to terms with. "I still feel that someone should have been held responsible, but each day, I keep trying to let it go and move on. That's hard to do. "Today is sad, but it's also nice to remember him." Karen Ferguson places a cross bearing her father's name at the Otago Workers' Memorial in Princes St. He was killed in a work accident 35 years ago. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH Yesterday, she was among about 40 people who gathered for Workers' Memorial Day at the Otago Workers' Memorial at the Market Reserve in Princes St, Dunedin. The day commemorates the people who were killed or injured at work. Every week in New Zealand, 18 workers are killed as a consequence of work, and every 15 minutes, a worker suffers an injury that requires more than a week off work. Every one of these incidents are preventable. Those present gave speeches about New Zealand's horrendous work safety records, laid wreaths and observed a minute's silence in remembrance of those killed at work. They also paid tribute to the man killed in an accident at Scott Technology last week. Workers' Memorial Day is an international trade union movement that calls for protecting and improving the systems that are intended to keep workers safe and healthy at work. The event was one of four held around the country yesterday.
Irish Times
28-04-2025
- Irish Times
‘No one should have to risk their life to earn a living': Remembering those killed or injured at work
'He was a hard worker, the sort who'd do everything twice to make sure it was done right,' Deirdre Byrne said of her late son James, 'but the accident came out of the blue.' She and her daughter Deborah, from Ringsend, Dublin, came to the Garden of Remembrance in the city centre on Monday to mark Workers' Memorial Day. They placed flowers during the ceremony in memory of James Byrne, a welder and father of two who worked for Doyle Shipping Group Unlimited in Dublin. Mr Byrne, who was 39, died at the firm's Ocean Pier facility on June 6th, 2018, when a 10-metre steel column fell on him. READ MORE Deborah Byrne said her brother had been left alone on a job that three men were required to finish after the fatal incident. He had been dismantling a hopper, a huge machine used to unload grain from ships, and was well into the process when the column he was working on detached and struck him. He is survived by his partner Paula Murray and sons Nathan and Callum, then aged 18 and 10, as well as his wider family. Deirdre Byrne holds a picture of her son James, who died in a work-related accident in June 2018, at the Workers' Memorial Day ceremony on Monday. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Reflecting on her son's death, Deirdre Byrne said: 'There should be more checks by companies, making sure they're not overworking the workers, making sure they're not left on their own to do heavy work. 'Companies can never do enough because they can't see everything that's happening with their employees, so they need to do everything they can to make sure things like this don't happen.' Mr Byrne's employer was fined €850,000 in 2020 for safety breaches that contributed to the incident , with the judge saying the figure would have been higher had it not provided evidence of having invested substantially to ensure nothing like the accident would happen again. Monday's event was organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). It was attended by Minister of State Neale Richmond and by Sean Downey of the Construction Industry Federation as well as workers and members of the emergency services. Ictu general secretary Owen Reidy said progress had been made in terms of workplace safety, with last year's total of 34 fatalities the lowest since the HSA's establishment. But he said: 'No one should have to put their life at risk earning a living.' Commemorations for the Workers' Memorial Day at the Garden Of Remembrance, Dublin, on Monday. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Mr Reidy welcomed the reduction in the number of deaths in agriculture and construction, but said much more needed to be done. 'I think it's important that we also dedicate this occasion to the thousands of workers who contract industrial diseases each year. Far from this being a thing of the past, occupational diseases are on the increase,' he said. 'Some 100,000 workers in Europe die every year from occupational cancer due to exposure to hazardous substances, and we know that longer working hours bring psychological pressures and can cause heart disease, stroke, depression and, in some cases, suicide.' Mr Downey said the downward trend of serious incidents in the construction sector was welcome, but 'we're not there yet, we need to do more to identify and eliminate risks and drive policy to help us get the figure to zero. 'We also need to drive out the culture of under-reporting among the FDI, the foreign companies that want to say 'We don't have any incident on our projects', because that's just not realistic.' HSA chief inspector Mark Cullen said the organisation would continue to work with industry bodies and unions to reduce numbers and said there would be more workplace inspections over the coming years.
