(ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK) – A Logger, a Thruway Inspector, a Tire Manufacturing Worker, a Roofer, a Millwright and an 18-year-old Retail Worker - just some of the local Workers who lost their lives in 2023 who were remembered earlier this week at the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) and Buffalo AFL-CIO Central Labor Council’s annual Workers’ Memorial Day Event that was held at Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park, just south of Buffalo.

With heavy hearts, the roll call of names of the dead were heard by those many Union Leaders, Representatives and Members in attendance who joined together to renew their pledge to Mourn the Dead, But Fight Like Hell For The Living at the Buffalo Labor Council’s impressive Workers’ Memorial.

“They ‘demand dignity of death on their own terms,’” said WNYALF Field Coordinator Austin Morgan (Pictured Below/WNYLaborToday.com Photos), one of several speakers.  “We ‘look forward to the day that there are no new names added to this memorial, but we still have a lot of work to do.’”

In the States of Florida and Texas, he pointed out, it is illegal to provide shade and water to those working in high temperatures and steamy humidity.

“(Elected Officials - predominately Republicans, in those States) ‘have criminalized the acts of handing out water,’” Morgan continued.  “And Child Labor Laws ‘are also being rolled back’ (predominately by Republicans across the United States).”

“This remembrance ‘is followed by our actions of tomorrow.’  ‘We make a commitment to safety (on the job) and call out unsafe working conditions without the fear of (employer) retaliation.’  ‘May these Workers (who have died on the job) rest in power, but may we not rest until safety is done,’” Morgan said.

U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) Buffalo Office Director Michael Scime also spoke, saying those who lost their lives in 2023 were “more than individuals.”

“They ‘had’ lives.  They had families,” he said. “And ‘each death was preventable.’”

“We ‘must remain ‘vigilant,” Scime said.  “We ‘all have to look out for each other where employers fail to do so.’”

The latest National AFL-CIO Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect (2024) report found that in 2022: 344 Workers died each day from hazardous working conditions; 5,486 Workers were killed on the job in the United States; An estimated 120,000 Workers died from occupational diseases; and The job fatality rate increased again to 3.7 per 100,000 Workers.

In addition, the report found: Workers of Color die on the job at a higher rate - Black and Latino worker job fatality rates are disproportionate compared with all other Workers and are continuing to increase; Employers reported nearly 3.5 million work-related injuries and illnesses, an increase from the previous year; 43 Workers died from heat on the job - fatal and non-fatal data are an undercount of the real problem; Workplace homicides and workplace suicides increased 9% and 13%, respectively, from 2021 to 2022; Separately, unintentional overdoses at work increased 13% from 2021 to 2022; The rate of serious workplace violence injuries has increased to 4.3 per 10,000 Workers; Musculoskeletal disorders from repetitive motion injuries continue to be a major problem, accounting for 28% of all serious work-related injuries and illnesses in private industry; Under-reporting of all workplace injuries and illnesses is widespread - the true toll of work-related injuries and illnesses is 5.6 million to 8.4 million each year in private industry; and Chemical exposures continue to plague Working People, leading to debilitating, life-threatening diseases that are totally preventable.

The report also found that the cost of job injuries and illnesses is enormous, estimated at $174 billion to $348 billion a year - an undercount of the real impact on society, families and communities. (For More On This Labor News Story, Go To: Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, 2024 (aflcio.org))

Buffalo AFL-CIO President Denise Abbott (Pictured Above) reminded those in attendance that each day there are Workers who went to work in the morning, but never returned to their loved ones at night.

“(It’s about) ‘greedy’ employers ‘cutting corners (regarding workplace safety).  It’s ‘violence against’ Co-Workers and customers.  And ‘it’s about allowing children to do jobs that they are not equipped to,’” Abbott said.

“‘We will fight to end this loss of life as we commit to safe workplaces,’” she pledged.