Labor College to Mark Workers Memorial Day Monday

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
The National Labor College commemorates Workers Memorial Day Monday starting at 1P. The commemoration comes on the heels of the AFL-CIO's annual Death on the Job report, released Thursday, that concludes US workers are at risk because of weak workplace safety laws and penalties. “Our nation’s system of rules and enforcement has fallen embarrassingly short of its goal of ensuring workplace safety,” says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. The annual report provides statistics on how many people lost their lives or were injured on the job in 2007 and gives detailed information on workplace safety in each state. The report found that, on an average day, 153 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and disease, and another 11,233 are injured. And with just 2,094 OSHA inspectors for the approximately 130 million workers in the United States today, federal OSHA inspectors will only be able to inspect workplaces once every 133 years. The report also shows workplace fatalities have increased sharply since 2005 for Latino and immigrant workers, who face dramatically higher risks of death on the job. To see the full report, click here.