POSTED BY MARTIN KICH

This holiday is not as well-known as May Day, Memorial Day, or Labor Day. But, especially during this pandemic, when many non-unionized, low-wage workers are in the “front lines” with insufficient personal protections and insufficient healthcare and paid sick leave, this day seems more “essential” than ever.

The commemorative day was established by the AFL-CIO in 1988, marking the anniversary of the signing of the bill establishing the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in 1971. The day is officially recognized by the U.S. government and has been adopted internationally. In Canada, it been officially designated as a National Day of Mourning.

The slogan for the day has been “Remember the dead—and fight for the living.” The statistics in the Wikipedia article on Workers’ Memorial Day are somewhat dated, but they have almost certainly gotten worse over this past decade as attacks on workers’ rights have not just persisted but intensified:

In the United States, there are approximately 155 million workers.

In 2012, 4,628 workers died from work-related injuries, an average of 12 deaths per day.

An estimated 53,000 deaths caused by occupational illnesses occurred in 2007.  There is no comprehensive system that counts deaths from occupational illnesses.

In 2012, employers reported nearly 3 million non-fatal injuries and illnesses to private industry workers and 793,000 to state and local government workers.

About 2.8 million work-related injuries were treated in emergency departments, resulting in 140,000 hospitalizations in 2012.

The economic burden of occupational injuries and illnesses was estimated at $250 billion in 2007. This estimate accounted for medical costs, productivity losses, and the societal costs of work-related fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.

Given the dates on which the statistics were reported, the work-related deaths do not reflect the dramatic increase in deaths from opioid overdoses. Those fatalities have undoubtedly increased among workers, in large part because as workplace rules and sick-leave policies deteriorated, many workers turned to the painkillers simply to keep their jobs.

To honor the efforts of “essential workers” during this pandemic, the staff at the Toronto Public Library and friends of the library have transformed wartime posters to reflect this new sort of “war”:

These posters are included in an article written by Katie Daubs for the Toronto Star. The article is available at: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/04/26/toronto-public-library-and-friends-remix-wartime-posters-for-the-pandemic.html.