A Day of Remembrance for Members in District 9

Today is a special, yet somber, day for all working men and women. Every year we have a day to remember the sacrifices made by our Brothers and Sisters throughout workplaces around our great country. This is Workers Memorial Day. Year after year men and women go to work and due to an accident or hazard in the workplace far too many do no return home. Through no fault of their own, life is taken from them on the job. We owe them the respect and remembrance this day signifies.

This day of remembrance should remind each of us how important it is to have a strong Union in your workplace. Too often we forget the history of organized labor and that one of the primary issues workers organized around was unsafe working conditions on the job. Workers were seen as a tool to get the job done and produce profits for corporations. If a worker was killed while doing his/her job, it was considered the price of doing business! The general attitude was there were more people to take the place of the tragically killed worker. Through organized labor and collective bargaining agreements, Safety and Health language was negotiated to give workers the right to have a voice in their own safety and health. Through organized labor legislation was proposed and passed to have safety standards in the workplace and create organizations to ensure companies adhere to those standards. Workers Memorial Day honors those who gave their lives at work to provide for us the strength and solidarity to continue fighting for a healthier and safer workplace.

This day is also somber as, although we have made great strides in health and safety at work, too many workers are still dying on the job every year. We should all remember the departed and their families in our thoughts and prayers, but on Workers Memorial Day the greatest honor we could give back to them is to work even harder to strengthen health and safety language in our agreements; to fight for stricter laws protecting workers and funding for agencies that enforce those laws.

We must never forget that many sacrificed to put safety and health at the forefront in plants and mills we work in. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice; others lost various body parts and still others came down with diseases that brought about the necessity for workers to organize around safety and health.

District 9 works diligently through our safety audit program to keep job safety at the forefront of our members minds while at work. I have said many times that there are two unnatural deaths people face in our society. It is unnatural for a parent to bury a child. The natural course of life is just the opposite, wherein parent and child have a full life together and for the child to renew the circle of life. The second unnatural death is a death at work. Many of us leave our homes every day without saying goodbye to our families, without waking them to say “I love you.” Why do we do this? Because we go to work to earn a living for our families and expect to return home at the end of our work day. No one goes to work expecting to die. We can only believe there is a reason beyond our understanding on the unnatural death of a child before his/her parent. We must believe, however, that with solidarity, strength and determination we can prevent an unnatural death at work.

Our Union, the United Steelworkers, is the best resource a worker has to increase safety and health in the workplace. We owe a debt of determination to organize within our current places to secure health and safety for our members. We owe an even greater debt to organize the unorganized so every worker has the opportunity for a voice in their workplace on safety and health. The United Steelworkers and District 9 work each and every day to repay these debts and we remember our fallen Brothers and Sisters every day. However, today we redouble our efforts to follow the cry of Mother Jones, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

In Solidarity,

Daniel Flippo
District 9 Director