New DOL Leaders Join Unions to Mark Workers Memorial Day

Family members holding photos of workers killed or injured on the job mark Workers Memorial Day. They were joined by acting OSHA administrator Jordan Barab.

After eight years of leaders who put corporate profits ahead of workers' health and safety, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis made good on her promise that "there's a new sheriff in town" as she and the acting head of OSHA joined union members for Workers' Memorial Day events in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Helping to dedicate the new workers' memorial at the National Labor College in Maryland on April 28, Solis announced the creation of a "severe violators' enforcement program" to penalize employers who willfully endanger their workers.

"We will not be controlled by ideology," Solis said. "When workers are in danger, we will act."

Scores of CWA locals across the country also held Workers Memorial Day events, from memorial ceremonies to workshops to help their members stay safe and well on the job. Some activities are continuing throughout the week.

Outside the Department of Labor in Washington, Jordan Barab, acting head of OSHA, pledged that the agency was vigorously renewing its commitment to workplace safety.

"Welcome to the new Labor Department," Barab said, to applause from union members and families of workers who had died or been gravely injured or sickened at work.

Many people at the gathering, which preceded House and Senate hearings on workplace safety issues, held large photos of those who had been killed on the job. Barab offered special thanks to the victims and their families, saying "your voices and your tears" are making a difference for all workers. "We want to make sure that no one goes to work and is afraid of not coming home alive," he said.

The annual AFL-CIO report tallying workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses, released for Workers' Memorial Day, showed that there were 5,657 fatal workplace injuries in 2007, the latest data available.

Although the total shows a slight decrease from 2006, union health and safety specialists say underreporting of workplace injuries and illness was a persistent problem during the Bush administration. While there were 4 million reported incidences of workers injured and sickened on the job, experts say it could be three times that number.

On average, 15 workers a day were fatally injured in 2007. Annually, another 50,000 to 60,000 workers die of occupational diseases.

This year's report, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, also examined enforcement in cases of worker deaths, finding that nationwide, the average total penalty in fatality investigations was just $11,311.  Utah had the lowest average penalty in fatality cases, with an average $1,106 penalty assessed, followed by South Carolina, with an average penalty of $1,383 per fatality, and Louisiana with an average penalty of $1,453.

The report, which includes state data and comparisons, is available online at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/safety/memorial/doj_2009.cfm.