Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
U.S. Sen. Baldwin: Leads Senate Resolution Commemorating Workers’ Memorial Day: “Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced a resolution honoring Workers’ Memorial Day, an international holiday commemorating workers who were killed, disabled, injured, or made unwell on the job. Workers’ Memorial Day is observed annually on April 28, the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) going into effect. ‘Workers’ Memorial Day is a solemn reminder of all of the workers who have been lost tragically on the job. They’ve left family and loved ones behind, and we must honor their memories by strengthening safety and health protections,’ said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. ‘There is still work to do to ensure that every worker has the right to go home safe at the end of a shift. We strongly urge the Senate to support this resolution.’”
American Workers Are Still Dying from Injuries on the Job—Here’s Who is Most Impacted: “‘Worker injuries and deaths are still far too common,’ Liz Shuler, the president of the AFL-CIO, said in a press conference Tuesday. ‘Every single day, 340 people die because of hazardous working conditions.’”
AFL-CIO on Memorial Day: ‘We Mourn Our Dead by Fighting for the Living’: “Tomorrow, on April 28, 2022, we observe Workers Memorial Day and remember the workers—our family, friends, and neighbors—who we have lost to workplace accidents, injuries or illness. Workers Memorial Day commemorates the anniversary of when the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) became effective. In addition to creating standards for workplace safety, OSHA establishes workplace safety as a fundamental right of every worker.”
Post Office Helping ‘Stamp Out Hunger’: “The 30th annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive will be held on May 14. Traditionally held on the second Saturday in May, to participate Derby residents can leave non-perishable donation items in a bag by their mailbox. The letter carriers will pick up the donations and deliver them to a local food bank, with the goal of helping feed the hungry across America.”
Climate Activists to Biden: Stop Stalling, Attack Climate Change: “Unionists ‘are going to help build a clean energy future,’ said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, an Electrical Worker (IBEW) and one of the headliners at the D.C. rally. She specifically declared Biden’s plan calls for unionists to build such climate-combating devices as solar panels and wind turbines. Public transit, not cars, is part of the solution, too, Shuler said. ‘Labor issues and climate issues are two sides of the same coin—and the solution to the climate crisis runs through the union movement.’ It also runs through workers’ lives, she noted.”
Joaquin Castro, Texas AFL-CIO Back Bill To Support Seasonal Workers: “Leonard Aguilar, secretary treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, said the stories of exploitation and violence within the H-2B program were both heartbreaking and infuriating. ‘For far too many workers, these jobs turned into nightmares,’ Aguilar said. ‘Because of the issues that were forced upon them, issues such as wage theft, poor working conditions, exposure to COVID-19, fraud and discrimination, harassment and retaliation.’”
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen : “AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler: ‘Collective action now is being seen as the way to make change. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more organizing efforts—whether it is Starbucks or Amazon, we’ve seen research assistants in the UC system 17,000 rising up, forming their union, Silicon Valley, museums, culture workers, non-profit workers. So I think it is vast and it is just getting started.’”