Public Employee Press

Coping with tragedy
Honoring the workers who die on the job

By JANE LaTOUR

Every day, workers get up, get dressed, put on their shoes or work boots and head out the door, expecting to return home. But in 2010, more than 4,500 were killed on the job and never went home again. Over 4 million workplace injuries and illnesses were reported.

Every year, on April 28, the U.S. labor movement observes Workers' Memorial Day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew the fight for workplace safety.

DC 37 Safety Director Lee Clarke and her staff are part of the ongoing fight for safer workplaces in the city's public-sector jobs. "Workers should be recognized every day," Clarke said. "They go into horrendous conditions and they accept it because it's their job." Principal Program Coordinator Guille Mejia noted that "regardless of regulations, regardless of enforcement, management and the administration still have this attitude that safety doesn't count."

Atrocious conditions

On a recent visit to Coney Island Hospital, Clarke took out her camera and flashed photo after photo of conditions on the job that endanger members. "Look! This is the area that receives surgical supplies. The ceiling is caving in. It's leaking - and there's mold. Anyone over 5-foot-6 can't stand up straight.
There is no ventilation and the windows won't open. Management knows but does nothing about it," she said, "and this is not an isolated case. Some of our members work in atrocious conditions!"

DC 37 has experienced its share of death on the job. Nicky Antico, a member of Local 376, went to work and never came home to his family. Local 1320 member Gennaro "Genny" Montello, the loving father of two, lost his life on the job on Jan. 9, 2009. Joseph Lohman, an Assistant Project manager and member of Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375, was killed in May 2000, supervising street construction. Local 376 member Archie Tyler, 43, died in 2001, when rushing water sucked him into a drainage pipe in the Jerome Park Reservoir.

"Our work is not done. Many job hazards are unregulated and uncontrolled. Some employers cut corners and violate the law, putting workers in serious danger and costing lives," said a Workers' Memorial Day statement from DC 37's national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "We will continue to demand that our country fulfill the promise of safe jobs for all."