Safe Jobs. Save Lives.

On April 28, we will mark Workers Memorial Day in the U.S. and the National Day of Mourning in Canada to honor those killed, maimed or sickened on the job. Days later we commemorate the May Day heroes who died for workers rights 134 years ago. Perhaps never in our lifetimes have these events been so relevant to the core mission of our union, to our families and to our nations.

While we grieve for those lost, injured or sickened, uncertain of the extent of the work-related toll of the coronavirus or its disastrous economic impact on working men and women, we must also act.

We must enforce the fundamental right to protect ourselves on every jobsite and in every workplace. We must fight to ensure that our nations fulfill the moral obligation we have to care for each other so no one must risk their lives, their families’ lives or the lives of those in our communities in order to put food on the table. In the spirit of the May Day heroes, let us never forget that when it comes to the well-being of LIUNA members and of all working people, there is no movement too radical and there is no action too militant. The price of going to work must never be death, injury or critical illness.

While current times seem uncertain, this we do know without doubt: the strength of LIUNA has always been and continues to be the best protection against jobsite and workplace dangers and the power of our unity is the best weapon in the fight against the virus of greed.

I urge each and every one of us to honor those who built our great union and our brothers and sisters who continue to build LIUNA today by rededicating ourselves to the struggle for safer jobs, for workers’ rights, civil rights and for human rights.