Workers Memorial Day: Organize for a Safe Workplace

Today, April 28, is Workers Memorial Day, when we remember workers killed or injured on the job and renew our commitment to fight for strong safety and health protections.

Our observance comes as working people are still dying each day as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while many are still dealing with the traumatic physical, emotional, and financial effects of the crisis.

While the Biden administration has worked to put in place responsible, qualified officials who are working hard to repair the damage that the previous administration did to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, union representation is still working people's best way to protect themselves on the job.

This year’s theme is "Organize! Safe Jobs Now." As workers continue to organize, health and safety on the job remains at the top of their list of concerns. This is certainly true for Tower Climbers who are organizing with CWA. Their work takes place hundreds of feet off the ground, often in dangerous environments. Forming a union is the most effective way they will get the appropriate protections they need and a voice on the job.

As we grieve those we have lost from COVID-19 and other workplace hazards, we must do everything we can to pass critical legislation like the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act so workers can freely form a union and the Protecting America’s Workers Act to provide OSHA protection to the millions of workers without it.

This Workers Memorial Day, we honor the memory of LaVon Pollock, a Service Technician at Verizon and a member of CWA Local 2201, who died on April 25, 2021, after falling about 18 feet in a work-related accident that occurred on April 19, 2021. He was working aloft on a mid-span cable when he fell to the ground onto his head. He was rushed to the hospital and died several days later from injuries sustained in the fall.

Fatalities as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic continue. While it is difficult to know how someone may have been exposed to the virus, we do know that many people have been exposed while at work.

We have established a memorial page for members who have lost their lives to COVID-19, which we will continue to update.