REMEMBERING
— (L) PEF President Ken Brynien and PEF Vice President Joe Fox lay a wreath for
Workers’ Memorial Day at the PEF monument. Photo by Darcy Wells
Labor unions mourn lost workers
By DEBORAH A. MILES
PEF member Joanne Burrows lost her life in a head-on collision while she was
transporting three co-workers and three clients from Sunmount Developmental
Disabilities Services Office in Tupper Lake in December 2006.
Burrows and other New York state employees were remembered on Workers’ Memorial
Day, April 28, an international day of remembrance to honor those who died on
the job and to focus on the struggle for improved workplace safety.
A service at the James Connolly Memorial in Troy’s Riverfront Park was held
April 28 with members from various unions. The Capital District Area Labor
Federation (CDALF) organized the event.
With a bagpiper playing in the background, Joe Fox, CDALF president and a PEF
vice president, read more than a dozen names of Capital District union members
who had died on the job in the last year. Among those was Joseph Longobardo, a
23-year-old state trooper who was shot in the line of duty.
“Each of these deaths is just as much of a tragedy, just as much of a loss, and
just as unnecessary,” Fox said.
The family of John Williams, who died in a train accident, also spoke at the
service along with Jon Van Raalte, director of industrial hygiene services for
the Occupational and Environmental Health Center in Guilderland.
On April 26, PEF President Ken Brynien, Fox and members from the PEF Executive
Board bowed their heads in silence at the PEF Memorial to remember workers who
died.
“This week, in town squares and union halls across the country, people are
gathering to remember the dead and fight for safe workplaces,” Brynien said.
“Over the last several decades, we’ve made progress in protecting workers on the
job. Fatality and injury rates have fallen dramatically in many industries.
“Our workers today are facing new and emerging hazards such as bioterrorism and
chemical security threats. Over the horizon is the very real threat of a flu
pandemic, which would put millions of health care workers and other first
responders on the front line,” Brynien said. “No matter how the times change,
we, as a union, will continue to fight for safe workplaces.”
The Communicator June 2007
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