Steelworkers Participate in Workers Memorial Day Observance in Salem, OR

The annual Oregon 2015 Workers Memorial Day observance was held at the Fallen Workers Memorial outside the Labor and Industries Building on the Capitol Mall in Salem. The permanent site of the boulder for the Fallen Worker Memorial was dedicated on Workers’ Memorial Day April 28, 2009. Al Dorgan, retired, who at the time was president of Albany Steelworkers Local 7150 and chair of the Safety and Health Committee, conceived the idea of the memorial and spearheaded the fundraising to pay for it.

This year’s memorial service was coordinated by the Oregon AFL-CIO with remarks from Oregon Governor Kate Brown, Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain and Michael Wood, Administrator of Oregon OSHA.

The ceremony included the reading of the names of the 53 Oregon workers who died on the job in 2014. Families of two of the deceased workers attended the observation as well.

In attendance from the Steelworkers, left to right, was Dixie Hyde (and her grandson), Local 12-1199; Matt Rice, Local 7150 Safety Coordinator; Mark Warne, Oregon AFL-CIO Labor Liaison and retired Steelworker; Ken Armstrong, Local 7150; Joe Ybarguen, Local 8378; Jim Gourley, Local 1189 and president of the LE Committee; and Bob Tackett, Local 330.