No one goes to work to die’ – USW observes Workers Memorial Day

CONTACT:  Jim McKay, (412) 562-2441

(Pittsburgh)  – The United Steelworkers released this statement from International President Leo W. Gerard on Workers Memorial Day:          

“Today on Workers Memorial Day, the United Steelworkers pauses to remember 28 men and women who died in the past year at workplaces in the United States and Canada where we are privileged to provide representation.

“Nobody goes to work to get injured. Nobody goes to work to die. We go to work to provide for our families and our children, and to prepare for the future: hopefully a retirement with dignity and health after a lifetime of work.

“Yet millions of workers in the United States lack basic safety protections on the job, while business interests relentlessly push to roll back existing protections and rights and block new ones.

“The most current statistics available show some 4,679 workers were killed on the job in the United States alone in 2014. That’s almost 90 deaths a week, more than 13 every day.

“While the best employers do what is right, there are others that value profits over people and unscrupulously cut corners, violate safety laws and common sense to profit. They put people in danger to make or save money. 

“As we pause to remember those who suffered and died at work, unsung heroes to us and the families they left behind, let’s renew the fight for all workers to have safe jobs and the freedom to form unions without retaliation if they wish.          

“It’s a fight that we can’t quit until the day there are no more workplace deaths, no more debilitating injuries or illnesses, when all workers go home safely at the end of the day with their lives and health.”

The 28 who died on the job at USW-represented workplaces in the past year at are:

Heather Warren

Mark Duffy

Mark Guay

Richard “Randy”Daugherty

Andrew Brundidge

Mike Hill

Dwane Walters

John Phare

Clemit Long

Jeremy Tanaka

Kenneth Gish

Jeanie Strader

Thomas Courts

Jonathan Jonasson

Parrish Sewell

Velma Perkins

Danny Peters

Richard Wade

Jean-Guy Trempe

Robert Jones

Carolyn Williams-Robinson

Chema Fernandez Saucedo

Yvan Hallé

Calvin Livingston

Ricky Wright

Kenneth Ray

Kevin Edmonds

Gregory Cooper

The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service and public sectors. For more information: http://www.usw.org/.