AFFILIATED WITH NATIONAL & STATE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
LABOR & CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS

April 28
Workers' Memorial Day

Workers are Remembered

On Wednesday, April 28th, the Westchester/Putnam Central Labor Body held an evening vigil to honor workers who lost their lives at work in the past year. The event was held at Kensico Dam in Valhalla where the Central Labor Body hopes to build a monument in memory of those who have died at their workplace. Last Thursday night the Central Labor Body held the first of a series of events to raise money for the monument. In his speech declaring April 28th Workers Memorial Day in Westchester, County Executive Andrew Spano spoke about how apropos placing a memorial for workers at the Kensico Dam would be. He explained that numerous workers had died as they built the dam.


The vigil was part of National Workers Memorial Day which is held annually on April 28th to remember those that have died and to fight for the health and safety of the living. "Our mourning is deep, but our commitment to fight for the living and to put an end to workplace deaths and injuries for all workers, union or non-union, is even deeper", said Paul Ryan, President of the Westchester /Putnam AFL-CIO Central Labor Body. "Every year about 6,000 people are killed at work and each day more than 12,000 workers are injured. In addition, based on government statistics, 50,000 workers die annually from occupational diseases. Effort to make the companies more competitive and productive have brought with them new safety and health concerns. Changes such as downsizing, increased hours and pace of work, and changes in technology and work processes are taking a huge toll on workers."

The names of those who had died on the job in the past year from Westchester and Putnam County were read aloud by Brendan McPartland of I.O.U.E. Local # 30 while Hal Aken III of Rye Firefighters, IAFF Local # 2029 rang a fire bell after each name. The bell was wrung this year for: Jose Alejandro, Christopher Belmont, Alexander Bulaevsky, Wain Brown, Thore Christensen, Frank Fiordimondo, Demetrie Henry, Luis Lojana, Rick Lombardo, Jonathan Martinez, James Raymond McGarvey, Chris O'Connor, Sandra Prenga, Peter Romano, Zeldin Slava, and Marc Williams. The bell was then rung three times remembering those who had died in current military service. George Smith of the Yonkers Fire fighters, IAFF # 628 played a tribute on the bagpipes.

Jim Pinsley, a retiree from the Yonkers Federation of Teachers, AFT # 860, thanked all the locals that had participated in handing out over 10,000 leaflets about worker safety at train stations, and supermarkets earlier in the day.

As chairman of the event, Westchester/Putnam Central Labor Body Secretary/ Treasurer Karen Magee thanked John Marfia of IBEW # 3 for leading the Pledge of Allegiance; Brenda Weiner of CSEA # 860 for singing the national anthem; Chris Cutter of CWA # 1103 for doing the invocation; Jim Pinsley for coordinating the volunteers; Mike Trinchi, Liaison to the United Way, for working on the program coordination and all the volunteers who had given their time to make the day a success. She also thanked State Assemblyman George Latimer; County Legislators Robert Austorino, Michael Kaplowitz, William Ryan, Martin Rogowsky, Judith Myers, Richard Wishnie, former County Legislator Sue Swanson, and all the members of the diverse unions that make up the central Labor Body for taking the time to attending the vigil. In her closing remarks she said, "I hope this will be the last year we have a vigil. That would signify that worker safety had improved and we would have no workers to memorialize because they had died."