Thirty-nine workers died in job-related accidents in Oregon in 2013. Construction saw the largest concentration of deaths in Oregon, with seven workers killed in that industry.
To honor all of them, the Oregon AFL-CIO, Northwest Oregon Labor Council, and the Oregon State and Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades councils will hold memorial services on Monday, April 28 — Workers Memorial Day. The services are part of the national AFL-CIO’s Workers Memorial Day, which recognizes the thousands of U.S. workers who die each year and the more than 1 million who are injured or sickened at work.
The first memorial service in Oregon will take place at 10 a.m. at the construction site of the Lloyd Center Commons apartment complex at 330 Multnomah Street (adjacent to the Oregon Convention Center). It is sponsored by all four labor organizations. (Read more about the ceremony and Lloyd Center Commons on Page 5.)
The Oregon AFL-CIO will hold an observance at 12:30 p.m. in Salem at the Fallen Workers Memorial outside the Labor and Industries Building, 350 Winter St. NE, on the Capitol Mall. The service will feature the reading of the names of the Oregon workers who died on the job in 2013, along with the names of Oregonians killed in military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. (A list appears on Page 8 of this issue.)
That evening, at 7 p.m., the Northwest Oregon Labor Council will hold a memorial service at its monthly delegates meeting. The service will include comments by Michael Wood, administrator of the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OR-OSHA). The meeting is held at the IBEW Local 48 Hall, 15937 NE Airport Way, Portland.
