Workers Memorial Day April 28, public discussion April 29
The Bloomington & Normal Trades & Labor Assembly (AFL-CIO) will mark Workers’ Memorial Day with a commemorative service at 6 a.m. on Monday, April 28, at White Oak Park, 1514 Cottage Avenue in Bloomington. The next evening, April 29, is a panel discussion in conjunction with the “Deadly Deception: Asbestos in McLean County” exhibit.
Workers’ Memorial Day is an annual commemoration the AFL-CIO has held since 1989 to remember workers who lost their lives in on-the-job accidents or died from chronic occupational exposure. The AFL-CIO estimates, from most recent 2021 federal statistics, that 5,190 workers died on the job and approximately 120,000 died from occupational exposure.
During the brief ceremony that morning Rev. Mollie Ward will deliver an invocation; the names of over 400 McLean County workers who have died locally in on-the-job accidents since 1856 will be read and remembered.
On April 28, 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) took effect. The nation’s national labor federation, the AFL-CIO, said this year, “Together on this Workers Memorial Day, we fight for our lives and confront attacks on safety and health agencies that keep our workplaces safe—and we demand action for independent oversight. We hold employers accountable to keep workers safe. We demand more—not fewer—government resources to do this. We demand dignity at work.”
The following evening, Tuesday, April 29, 6:30 p.m., the McLean County Museum of History is hosting a panel discussion, The Silent Killer: Dangers of Asbestos in the Workplace in conjunction with its “Deadly Deception: Asbestos in McLean County” exhibit. From 1951-1972 the United Rubber & Asbestos Company (UNARCO) wove asbestos fibers at its Bloomington plant, leading to over one hundred fatalities.
Panelists include Cheryl Wills, whose father William Tipsord died from mesothelioma at age 57 after working at UNARCO; local attorney James Walker, who represented many plant workers and their families; Goerge Martinez, Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) asbestos remediation instructor; LIUNA 362 retiree Larry Mertes, who worked at UNARCO, and closing remarks offered by Dr. Ericka Wills, University of Wisconsin School for Workers Assistant Professor. WGLT-FM’s senior reporter Charlie Schlenker will moderate the panel.
The event is free and open to the public at the Museum, 200 N. Main Street, Bloomington. The exhibit will also be open that evening. More information is available at www.mchistory.org
The Bloomington & Normal Trades & Labor Assembly dates to the 1880s; it is the central labor council for all 31 AFL-CIO affiliated unions in McLean, Livingston, Logan and DeWitt counties.