The Oregon AFL-CIO and Northwest Oregon Labor Council held memorial services the last week of April to honor workers who were killed on the job in Oregon in 2017. Officially, Workers Memorial Day is April 28. It is a day established by the national AFL-CIO to remember the thousands of U.S. workers who die each year on the job and the more than 1 million who are injured at work.
The Northwest Oregon Labor Council’s memorial service took place prior to its monthly delegates meeting. Nearly 50 family members of Pablo Dominguez-Amezcua attended. A road construction flagger, Dominguez-Amezcua, 48, was struck and killed by a drunk driver May 23, 2017, while flagging at a work zone on Southeast 122nd in Happy Valley, Oregon. Two co-workers were injured.
The Oregon AFL-CIO’s observance was held April 27 at the Fallen Workers Memorial outside the Labor and Industries Building, 350 Winter St. NE, on the Capitol Mall in Salem.
At both services, the names of the 48 workers who died on the job in Oregon in 2017 were read, in addition to one Oregonian killed while serving in the military.
At the labor council service, flags were raised and a bell rung as each name was read. Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon-OSHA, was the guest speaker at both services. Proclamations from Gov. Kate Brown also were read. The proclamations declared April 28 as Workers Memorial Day in Oregon.
