Hassan to Speak at Workers Memorial Day Monday

According to Mark MacKenzie, president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO, seven workers in New Hampshire never made it home in 2014, which is why the organization is encouraging ”families and local unions who have suffered the loss of a member on the job in the last year” to contact NH COSH at 603-232-4406 or nhcosh@nhcosh.org, and join other members in a memorial event at the AFL-CIO office on 161 Londonderry Turnpike in Hooksett on Monday.

Gov. Maggie Hassan will be speaking and attending the event, which will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Every year on or near April 28, he noted in a press statement, the NH Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health/NH COSH, along with the national COSH groups and labor orgs, observe Workers Memorial Day to “remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew our efforts for safe workplaces,” he said.

“This year the struggle continues to create good jobs in this country that are safe and healthy,” he said. “ It’s time for our country to fulfill the promise of safe jobs for all.”

Four decades ago, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, promising every worker the right to a safe job. Organizations continue to fight hard to make that promise a reality - new protections to make jobs safer are won slowly. OSHA regulations have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and prevented millions of workplace injuries and illnesses. But our work is not done.

Many job hazards are unregulated and uncontrolled, MacKenzie said. Some employers cut corners and violate the law, putting workers in serious danger and costing lives. Workers who report job hazards or job injuries are fired or disciplined. Employers contract out dangerous work to try to avoid the responsibility of workers compensation insurance. As a result, each year thousands of workers are killed and millions more injured or diseased because of their jobs and families are left to fend for themselves, he noted.