Workers memorial programs planned in Missouri and Illinois

Labor leaders in Illinois and Missouri will remember workers killed or injured on the job in programs scheduled in upcoming weeks in recognition of Workers Memorial Day.

IN ILLINOIS
The Madison County Federation of Labor will remember those injured or killed on the job at their annual Workers Memorial at 7 p.m. Friday, April 28, in Gordon Moore Park at the Workers’ Memorial Site on Highway 140 in Alton, Ill.

Any union that has had a member suffer a fatal or permanent disabling injury since April 28, 2020, should alert the Federation by contacting Mike Fultz at 618-409-4314 or mpfultz@att.net or Federation President B. Dean Webb at 618-259-8558 so they can be honored during the program.

In the event of inclement weather, the program will be held indoors in the Muensterman Building.

IN MISSOURI
The Greater St. Louis Labor Council is asking all affiliated unions to provide names of their members who passed away in the past year to include them in the 43rd Annual Robert O. Kortkamp Union Labor Mass and Interfaith Prayer Service.

The program to recognize union members who have died on the job or from work-related injury or illness will begin at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, May 7, with an Interfaith Prayer Service outside the Shrine of St. Joseph, Patron Saint of the Worker, at 11th and Biddle streets in downtown St. Louis. Mass will follow at 9 a.m. inside the church.

Deceased members’ names can be submitted by email to Christine Brame at cbrame@stlclc.org, by fax to 314-291-8676, or by mail to St. Louis Labor Council, 3301 Hollenberg Dr., Bridgeton, Mo. 63044.

BRUNCH FOLLOWING MASS
Following Mass, the Labor Council will host brunch at Maggie O’Brien’s, 2000 Market St. in downtown St. Louis.

Tickets for the brunch are $30 per person or $300 for a table of 10. Checks should be made payable to Union Labor Mass, and mailed to the St. Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO, 3301 Hollenberg Drive Bridgeton, Mo. 63044 no later than Tuesday, April 25, to reserve your place.

All profits from the event will benefit the Shrine of St. Joseph to aid in restoration efforts.

5,190 FATAL WORK INJURES
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 5,190 fatal work injuries recorded in the U.S. in 2021 (the most recent year for which statistics are available), an 8.9 percent increase from 2020. The fatal work injury rate was 3.6 fatalities per 100,000 full-time workers, an increase from 2020 and from the pre-pandemic rate of 3.5 in 2019.

The BLS also reported that a worker died every 101 minutes from a work-related injury in 2021, and the share of Black workers fatally injured reached an all-time high in 2021 with 12.6 percent of total fatalities – a 20.7 percent increase. Transportation and material-moving occupations had the highest number of fatalities with an 18.8 percent increase from 2020. Women made up 8.6 percent of workplace fatalities, but represented 14.5 percent of intentional injuries by another person.

While instances such as slips and falls and transportation accidents continue to be major factors, exposure to harmful substances or environments led to 798 worker fatalities in 2021, the highest figure since tracking began in 2011, according to the bureau.

Other major increases included a 16.3-percent increase in driver/sales worker deaths; a 31.9 percent increase in protective service worker deaths such as fire fighters and police officers; and a 20.9 percent increase in installation, maintenance and repair occupation deaths.

DEATH ON THE JOB
The AFL-CIO compiles its own report titled “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.” The 2022 edition used statistics from 2020, citing significant progress toward improving working conditions, but with a list of work that needs to be done.

“The pandemic exposed the regulatory safety and health structural systems that had been weakened over decades and exploited by the Trump administration,” the report read. “Job safety agencies need to be rebuilt, not only restored to the pre-Trump era, but in ways that reflect solutions to the most significant barriers to ensuring workers are protected and can full exercise their rights.”

The report calls for more funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and local job safety agencies, addressing the racial and gender disparities in workplace safety, and a permanent standard to protect health care and other workers from COVID-19, among other recommendations. It also calls for attention to workplace violence, a streamlined electronic injury reporting system, and updating OSHA’s standards for chemical hazards, which it called “obsolete.”