Oregonians remember the 70 workers killed on the job in 2003

More than 100 people mourned the loss of 70 workers killed in Oregon last year and vowed to fight to make workplaces safer for all workers.

The April 28 Workers Memorial Day evening service was held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Northeast Portland and was sponsored by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council.

Among those in attendance were family members of six workers killed on the job. As the name of each person killed in Oregon in 2003 was read, a flag was raised and a bell tolled in their memory.

That scene played out at hundreds of events held around the nation to mark the 15th annual Workers Memorial Day. The theme this year was “Good Jobs, Safe Jobs, Protect Workers Now.”

In Washington State, the largest memorial service was held at the Department of Labor and Industries Building in Tumwater to remember 96 people who suffered fatal work injuries or died from work-related diseases in the state last year.

Washington Governor Gary Locke and other dignitaries spoke at that event.

Each year, more than 60,000 workers die from job-related injuries or illnesses and another 4.7 million are injured, according to government statistics.

This year, the national AFL-CIO is focusing its attention on the Bush Administration’s history of stalling, blocking and repealing needed workplace protections since taking office in January 2001.

For instance, on his first day in office, President George W. Bush ordered all executive departments to postpone a wide range of Clinton Administration regulations, including several workplace protection rules, including the nation’s first standard covering carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries.

Some 1.8 million workers suffer such injuries annually, and workplace safety experts estimate the standard would have prevented hundreds of thousands of workplace injuries each year.

The Bush Administration also pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to tone down reports about potential health hazards at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. 

Democratic U.S. senators have introduced a bill — Protecting America’s Workers Act — that would expand the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s coverage to millions of public- and private-sector workers not covered by job safety laws. The bill also would strengthen penalties for willful employer violations, expand the public’s right to know, protect whistle-blowers and require employers to provide safety equipment.

© Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.