WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: The 34th Annual Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council’s Workers’ Memorial Ceremony was held over the weekend at Reservoir Park in the Niagara County Town of Lewiston, where dozens of Unionists, Elected Officials and Friends of Labor gathered to honor those who’ve gone to work in the morning - but failed to come home at night.  (WNYLaborToday.com Photos)

(TOWN OF LEWISTON, NEW YORK) – The Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council held its 2025 Workers’ Memorial Ceremony on Saturday (April 3rd), remembering and honoring those who went to work in the morning, but failed to come home at night - while also celebrating Labor-led strides to improve New York State’s Workers’ Compensation System.

The 34th annual commemoration was held under dark and gloomy skies as dozens of Unionists, Elected Officials and Friends of Labor in attendance at Reservoir Park stood in silence - listening to a solitary bagpipe player before a bugler played taps.

What followed was a reading of the names of those Workers who died on the job and as a result of workplace diseases - etched into the unique monument that is guarded by a bronze eagle.

A series of flags were then lowered to half-mast in their honor.

The event continued inside a large tent where several speakers discussed the need for continued vigilance of all involved to ensure workplace safety, as well as to more than adequately look after those Workers.

The call to action “‘isn’t resonating outside these (tent) walls (of those injured on the job and their families who are left to cope with such tragedy) because (13) Workers a day (across the U.S.) don’t come home,’” an emotional and angry Niagara-Orleans Labor Council President Jim Briggs said. “I ‘don’t see anything in news - every day, on Workers who die and not because they did something wrong.’ ‘Until government realizes that life is important, there won’t be changes - and I put the blame on past and present (administrations, on the Federal and State levels).’”

Briggs (pictured below), who has served as United Steelworkers (USW) District 4 Sub-Director, continued, recounting an investigation of a USW Member employed at a plant in Dunkirk who recently lost his life when a bundle of steel shifted and crushed him to death.

“I ‘never saw anyone killed,’” recounted Briggs, who watched the incident on videotape that was provided by company security cameras at the site. “‘I saw the last moves of his life.’ ‘I don’t know how to convince our Elected Officials to address this issue.’ ‘There is no excuse’.”

Beth Pyskaty, United Way of Greater Niagara’s Labor Liaison to the Niagara-Orleans Labor Council who served as Mistress of Ceremonies (pictured below), said: “‘Why must it take so much devastation for government to act?’  ‘We owe it to every Worker (who has died) to hold everyone accountable.’  ‘We need not only words, but action.’  ‘That’s why - in their memory, we fight.’”

Ahead of Workers Memorial Day, the National AFL-CIO released its 34th annual Death On The Job: The Toll Of Neglect Report, a comprehensive analysis of the state of Workers’ health and safety at the National and State levels.

Findings included: Inadequate Workplace Safety Laws and policies resulted in the deaths of 5,283 Workers on the job in 2023, the latest year of data available, and an estimated 135,304 Workers from occupational diseases; Black and Latino Workers are still disproportionately dying on the job, both at rates higher than the national job fatality rate; the report shows 659 Black Worker deaths, the second-highest number in more than two decades;’ and the report also shows 1,250 Latino Worker deaths, making Latino workers the group at the greatest risk of dying on the job among all demographics. 

(WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: For More, Read: New National AFL-CIO Report Finds Worker Deaths On The Job ‘Will Worsen Under Trump Administration Policies’ - WNY Labor Today: Your On-Line Labor Newspaper, Bringing You Labor News From Across The Nation, New York State & Western New York)

Briggs, meanwhile, was joined by New York State Assemblymen William Conrad III (pictured below, on the right) and Angelo Morinello (pictured below, on the left), to make those in attendance aware of the Labor-led and bi-partisan effort to reform and improve the State’s Workers’ Compensation System.

“(Organized Labor) ‘is trying to reform’ Workers’ Compensation here in New York State,” said Briggs, who along with Buffalo AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Denise Abbott and others from the Niagara-Orleans Council have been involved in the effort since 2022. “We’ve visited with the (State) Workers’ Compensation Board, and ‘I don’t know if there has ever been a time that Labor has sat with the full Board to talk about the problems’ (with the system). ‘We want accountability for Workers’ (injured on the job). ‘We believe that if we eliminate injuries, we will eliminate death - and we are here to make accountability higher than profitability.’”

Said Morinello, a Republican: “‘We need to be vigilant every single day.’  It was Unions ‘who fought for safety on the job, with an emphasis being placed on it only (55) years ago.’ ‘Before that, there was no emphasis placed’ (in workplace safety). Our Workforce Comp Board was established in (1914) ‘with an emphasis (on addressing) treatment and financial compensation.’  In (2022), Jim Briggs created a roundtable to help Workers ‘better navigate’ the Workers’ Comp System, (which is) a bi-partisan task force.”

Added Conrad, a Democrat (Who recently penned a column on the issue for The Ken-Ton Bee, which appears below): “We meet regularly and ‘we are collaborating on solutions.’ I have introduced two Bills, including one after I met a pregnant Nurse ‘who fell down a staircase and lost her child.’ In September, the Governor Kathy Hochul) signed into law one where mental health compensation was extended to (cover) stress and PTSD. ‘We are working to make (reform and improvements of the Workers’ Comp System) a human rights issue because this is not a handout.’  ‘We want to get (injured Workers) back to work.’”

On another front, Briggs said Labor was also pushing payments to family who must travel to facilities in other parts of the State to be with their injured loved ones while they are being take care of: “‘I don’t know if we can - and I don’t know how, but we need something like a Ronald McDonald House approach considered by Workers’ Comp.’ ‘Many are already struggling and they just can’t pay for it.’  ‘And, we need to get Doctors (participating in the system) compensated in a fair way.’”