PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Workers Memorial Day was observed at South Street Memorial Park on Saturday.

 

The Berkshire Labor Assembly and Western Mass Area Labor Federation hosted a socially distanced memorial to remember all those who have lost their lives to preventable workplace injury or illness.

 

This includes deaths from COVID-19, workplace injury, or other work-related illnesses. Berkshire Central Labor Council President Brian Morrison and Liz Recko-Morrison, Berkshire chapter director of the Massachusetts Community College Council, read the names of t hose who died at or as a result of their work this year including essential workers, first responders, and firefighters.

 

State Sen. Adam Hinds, City Council President Peter Marchetti and Councilor at Large Pete White were in attendance. Hinds and White spoke on the importance of legislative changes to protect workers such as emergency paid sick time and a $15 minimum wage.

 

"We've got a lot of problems in our economy, the structure of our economy, the structure of our society when you're asking people to go out and do work on the front lines and you don't help them take care of their sick one at home or their kids at home," Hinds said.

 

"We don't have universal child care, are you kidding me? Now is the time we're realizing this isn't a moment for chipping around the edges, putting on a Band-Aid here and there, we need big structural change and this past year made us realize how many elements we just get wrong in our economy in our commonwealth and we're not standing up for workers, we're not standing up for working families, and there's a lot of work to do.

 

"So it's by coming together on a day like today to say thank you to honor those who have passed and to say 'we've got a heck of a lot of work to do together to make sure that we have a government and an economy that stands up for all of you.'"

 

White read a proclamation from Mayor Linda Tyer proclaiming April 24 as Worker Memorial Day in the City of Pittsfield.

 

"Whereas, more than 627,000 workers' lives have been saved since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 many workers still remain in serious danger. And whereas in 2019 5333 workers lost their lives from job-related traumatic injuries, and an estimated 95,000 died from occupational diseases. In that same year employees reported 2.8 million injuries and illnesses in private sector workplaces, in over 682,700 injuries and illnesses in state and local public sector workplaces," She wrote.

 

"And whereas, COVID-19 has impacted so many lives, not only in our community but in the communities across the world, the pandemic highlighted the inextricable link between workplace safety and health in the community safety and health, public health cannot begin to be addressed without attending to the needs and safety of workers on the job."

 

White said he is passionate about this subject and is glad that the wider society is "waking up" and realizing that essential and frontline workers need better care.

 

"It's always a sobering moment to be here as a union steward myself and a job placement specialist who, working for the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, many of the jobs that I've been able to help people get this year have been on the front line," he said. People will put themselves at risk for often low wages, and not a lot of gratitude.

 

"We need to keep up the fight beyond COVID for workers to go to work and expect them to be able to go home safely every night to their families and not have workplace injuries and illnesses caused by cutting corners and not following laws, we need to continue to pass stronger laws, so it's always great to have Senator Hinds here with us fighting for us in Boston."

 

Longtime labor leader Arthur Butler reflected on the markedly difficult time it has been for workers and stressed the importance of government and union collaboration.

 

"Government agencies are important to work with unions to make sure everything is equal, also the safety and health, wage per hour, everything that we need," he said.