Workplace Safety Hearings Highlight Workers Memorial Day

As CWA members and other activists across the country join together to commemorate Workers Memorial Day 2009, Apr. 28, important health and safety hearings will be taking place on Capitol Hill.

On April 28, two members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee will be hearing testimony on meaningful incentives for safe workplaces and roles for victims and their families.

This Workers Memorial Day 2009 poster, "Good Jobs. Safe Jobs. Give Workers a Voice for a Change," can be ordered for 75 cents from the union shop at www.aflcio.org.

Some testimony may focus on the Family Bill of Rights, which would give victims and family members rights in the investigations of workplace accidents and other health and safety incidents. Democrat Patty Murray of Washington state and Republican Johnny Isakson of Georgia will hear from witnesses.

At the same time, the House Education and Labor Committee will focus on the reintroduction of the Protecting American Workers Act. The bill would substantially improve the current OSHA law, adding criminal sanctions for employers with egregious violations.

CWA Occupational Safety and Health Director Dave LeGrande said unions are planning to bring a significant number of family members affected by workplace tragedies to the hearings.

LeGrande said organizers will have large posters of victims of workplace accidents and illnesses that activists can carry with them in a march to Capitol Hill from the Labor Department on Tuesday morning. Participants are asked to gather at 8 a.m. Tuesday on the steps of the DOL building at 200 Constitution Ave., NW.

"The new Faces Campaign is putting a human face on the horrific toll of workplace disasters," LeGrande said. "In many instances this will be the first time for many family members to become active in fighting for the rights of current and future workers as a way to remember and memorialize their lost loved ones."

Outside Washington D.C., CWA locals nationwide will hold memorial ceremonies, lobbying, leafleting and workplace events to focus attention on workers' health and safety.

Locals that haven't yet let LeGrande know about their plans for April 28 or anytime during the week of Workers Memorial Day are asked to contact him at legrande@cwa-union.org.