by John Mason

The Philadelphia Labor community commemorated workers killed on the job at the Workers’ Memorial Day breakfast, held at the Sheet Metal Workers’ hall, 1301 S. Christopher Columbus Boulevard, on Friday, April 24, 2009.

The event was sponsored by the Philadelphia Area Project for Occupational Safety and Health (PHILAPOSH) and the Philadelphia Central Labor Council AFL-CIO.

Terry Gallagher, President of the PHILAPOSH board, welcomed those in attendance, especially the families of workers killed in occupational accidents. Elizabeth McElroy, Assistant to the President of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, Patrick Eiding, spoke and brought the greetings “from the 200,000 working men and women who belong to unions, who live and work in Philadelphia every day.”

Of the task of honoring workers killed on the job, McElroy said, “It’s something we have to do, unfortunately, we have to come together to honor those who gave their lives in the workplace. But we all look to the day when we (can) celebrate, because nobody gave their life in the workplace. Until that day comes, we’ll continue to fight and struggle for safety on the job.”

PHILAPOSH director Barbara Rahke said, “We are (here) to honor those who lost their lives by going to work every day. We’re also here to talk about change and the need to renew our desire to fight for safety for all workers on the job.” Rahke expressed her pleasure “that such a huge response once again has come out for this event.”

Nineteen different labor bodies, said Rahke, were represented in the breakfast, from such unions as AFSCME, Teamsters, Sheet Metal workers, UFCW, UNITE-HERE, Steel Workers, Chester County (PA) Central Labor Council, and UE, along with labor support groups, such as the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the New Jersey Work Environment Council, the Comey Institute at St. Joseph’s University, the Temple University’s School of Public Health, Philadelphia Area Labor Management (PALM), Jewish Labor Committee, Jobs With Justice, Center for Construction Research and Training, and attorneys who have worked to gain benefits for injured workers.

Rahke also introduced the families of workers killed on the job who attended the event -Jeff Davis, who died from an explosion at a refinery; Scott Shaw, who also died in a refinery; Jeffery Martin, who died in a fall at a construction site; John Roberts, who was crushed during a tree removal; Police Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski, who was killed trying to stop a robbery; Mathew Holmes; Richie Brady, who was fatally struck by an SUV at a construction site; and Gregory Martin.

The keynote speaker was US Representative Patrick Murphy (D-PA). Murphy said to the gathered labor activists, “I’m here to break bread with you,” and to the family of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, he said, “You continue to be in our thoughts and prayers, and we love you…with every fiber of our being.”

Murphy spoke of the first time he ran for Congress, and that the incumbent we ran against was well financed: “I said I’m going to do this,” Murphy recalled, “for the nineteen guys I served with in Iraq who never made it home.” Murphy commended the support he received from PHILAPOSH Broad member John Greer, “who gave me a chance when no one else would, they believed in me when no one else did.” Murphy added, “They believed in me because I was part of this family, those who join unions, folks who know what it’s like to wake up every day and work to make our country better.”

Murphy said that the United States is the greatest nation on the planet was “because of everyone in this room,” the working men and women in the nation: “Every day,” he said, “they wake up, put their clothes on and go to work, and try to make a better life for their families, and put food on their table (and) pay the bills. But they made America number one.”

Murphy mentioned the “tea party” anti-tax movement put on by the right wing, and of the involvement of the federal government in the economy, saying, “I believe in a limited government that says, ‘we need to be a proper referee to make sure that under capitalism, they don’t abuse the American family or the American worker.’” Murphy spoke of the need for regulating corporations, starting during the Industrial Revolution, “when nine or ten year olds were working sixty hours a week, and there was no environmental protection;” and the need for laws on occupational health and safety, minimum wage and child-labor laws, and environmental laws, “so that when you go fishing, and you want to make the fish for dinner that night, you don’t have to go to the hospital the next day; so that when you turn on your faucet and you take water out, it’s okay to drink.”

Speaking of his support for the right of workers to organize into unions, and for the Employee Free Choice Act, Murphy that the in Department of Labor each year, “There are twenty thousand cases brought up for wrongful termination by people in the workplace just trying to organize, just trying to exercise their constitutional right … (these are) wrongful firings because they’re trying to unionize.”

John DeFazio, Director of District 10 of the United Steel Workers, was the following speaker. “We are here today,” he said, “to remember those who have been injured and killed in the workplace. We want companies to be held accountable when they put profits ahead of workers’ health and safety.”

The past Bush II administration, said DeFazio, “did not prosecute ninety-three percent of the fatalities caused by willful violation of OSHA standards as criminal violations.” More American workers died last year on the job, he added, than during the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the Afghanistan war, and in the Iraq war.

DeFazio spoke about how business groups took out TV ads making false claims against the Employee Free Choice Act, saying, “When the National Labor Relations Act came in (during) 1935, workers always had the right to vote by secret ballot, or by card check… This changed in 1974, when the employer had the choice. All we’re trying to do now is make it an even, fair playing field, when the employees have that right again.” DeFazio then read a proclamation, from the Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Council commemorating Workers Memorial Day in Allegheny County.

Dr. Arthur Frank, chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the School of Public Health of Drexel University, Frank raised the question, “What is an academic guy doing here? What kind of role do I have?” Frank recalled “sixty two years ago yesterday, my dad was killed on the job, while my mother was pregnant with me. I understand the people we honor today, because my household was affected very much the same way.”

Frank said that his specialty is “occupational medicine, and there are only a thousand of us in this country who are trained to do what we do. “ Frank added, “I think about the failures we have in this country, (such as ) the failures in leadership in places like Washington, that pass laws (but) don’t enforce them, and they don’t inspect workplaces, and they don’t get after companies that abuse their workers.”

Frank pointed out another failure, this one in the medical profession: “We have 850,000 doctors roughly in this country,” he said. “I take great pride in the fact that if you came to my office (at Drexel University), you’ll find my hard hat, my safety glasses, and my steel toed shoes, because I go out into workplaces.” Frank spoke of his work with such professions as Insulators, Sheet Metal Workers, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, and has gone into coal mines with UMWA members. “Not enough doctors,” he added, “know about the workplace, or ask, ‘What kind of work do you do?’”

Holly Shaw, chair of the PHILAPOSH Family Support Group, said to those gathered, “Thank you for acknowledging that worker safety is apriority. I’m hopeful that the new administration in Washington will make the changes needed that will force companies to confront safety issues. I believe we now have friends in Washington.” Shaw, who lost her husband in an industrial accident, said to the families of workers killed on the job, “I know the pain and grief that you are feeling, I know the hurt that you are experiencing, I know the frustration you have and I know the roadblocks that are placed before you. Please know that we are here to support each other, and take strength from that.”

Rosalie Hetrick, who lost her husband who was employed by Verizon, spoke next. “I lost my husband, my friend, my soul mate, to a work related accident on May 21, 2008,” she said. “My life, the lives of our children, and the lives of our families and friends instantly morphed the moment my husband was killed. The last eleven months and two days have been saturated with grief and new experiences, disbelief and memories, and the determination to move into a direction that forces us to find some kind of solace and happiness. In my heart I have confidence that’s what Tom (her Husband) would have wanted for us.”

Hetrick recalled Tom’s career at Verizon, with his position as a line foreman, “Tom carried himself with grace and was genuine as well as loving, and kind and compassionate,” and “the most safety-conscious person I know. He was brilliant at quickly assessing situations and making informed decisions.” Hetrick spoke of one of Tom’s crew members, “in a very emotional state, that he pictures the accident every day, he sees Tom flying through the air (and) landing on his head. He told me he gave (Tom) CPR, and he tasted Tom’s blood in his mouth for a week.”

The program concluded with a funeral procession from the Sheet Metal Workers’ hall, down Christopher Columbus Boulevard, to the Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing. Brian Widelitz played the bagpipes for the procession, and Rabbi Mordechai Leibling said the Twenty-Third Psalm. Then participants lined up to read the names of people killed in workplace accidents as they threw roses into the Delaware River, while Widelitz played “Amazing Grace.”