For Immediate Release
Friday, April 27, 2001
Remembering Workers Who Have Lost Their Lives
On April 28, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, and the rest of the labor movement will observe Workers Memorial Day. The theme on this important day is "Mourn for the Dead — Fight for the Living," a fight that has become more difficult as the result of last year's election.
The Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have already shown that they are pro-business and anti-worker. This was clearly demonstrated in March when Congress, with the support of the Bush Administration, voted to repeal the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Ergonomics Standard. The rule took ten years to develop and implementation of the standard would have prevented hundreds of thousands of painful and crippling injuries and saved the economy $50 billion dollars each year.
On April 28 we will once again renew our commitment and increase our efforts to prevent deaths, injuries, and illnesses in the workplace. AFSCME will not rest until all of our members are covered by effective safety and health laws. We will resist any attacks on worker safety, such as cutting OSHA's budget, weakening enforcement of job safety laws, or trying to roll back existing protections.
We must ensure that the lives of all of our workers are protected, for one life lost is one life too many.
