Keynote Speaker Jon Geenen, the International Vice President, Paper Sector, helped honor those who gave their lives and pledges to work hard so it won't happen again.

1.   JON GEENEN – UNITED STEELWORKERS INTERNATIONAL VICE  PRESIDENT, PAPER SECTOR.

a.    In 2008, Jon became the International Vice President of the United Steelworkers, Paper Sector.

b.   He primarily oversees collective bargaining and policy related to the paper industry.

c.    Jon Geenen began his career in 1977 as an industrial apprentice at the International Paper mill in Kaukauna, Wisc.                              

                                                  i.     He joined Local 20 of the United Paperworkers International Union, and served as bargaining committee chair, vice president and president.

                                                ii.     In 1993 he was appointed to an international representative position in PACE Region X and serviced numerous paper facilities.

                                             iii.     From 2003 to 2005 Geenen was the national director of paper bargaining and head of PACE's Rapid Response Education Network. He helped set in motion coordinated bargaining within the paper industry, and organized the first National Paper Bargaining conference in 2004. He also helped establish the Rapid Response Network at PACE, which was modeled after the Steelworkers' program.

                                              iv.     The USW executive board appointed him to be the Region X Director in July of 2005.

                                                v.     He has a bachelor's degree in political economies of labor from the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md. In 2001 he received a master's degree in public administration, with a concentration in labor studies and organizational theory, from the University of Baltimore, Md.

To help us out for next years event, if you know of someone who has lost their life on the job, email us(above).  Provide Date; Name; Company; Job or description; and any Union Affiliation, if any...click here.

Workers Memorial Day observed

Lewiston commemoration focuses on death of Clearwater Paper employee, others who have died at work

By [author]Elaine Williams[/author] of the [org]Tribune[/org]
April 29, 2011

The circumstances surrounding the death of a Clearwater Paper employee have been shared at factories around the country, prompting them to make changes to prevent other tragedies.

The fatal accident that killed John A. Bergen III was one of 36 that have occurred in pulp and paper mills since 2005, said Jon Geenen, international vice president of the United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh, Pa. "Nobody walks away from these things not being a changed individual."

Geenen spoke Thursday at an event to mark Workers Memorial Day at Pioneer Park in Lewiston. Names, ages and dates of deaths of residents from the region who lost their lives while working were read at the commemoration where "Amazing Grace" was played on the bag pipes.

It was one of several the United Steelworkers and other union groups conducted throughout the country in towns where mill employees died.

The union wants to prevent other tragedies by making sure information about accidents is publicized so the underlying causes can be corrected, Geenen said.

The principle is already at work in law enforcement, where officers document and distribute what they learn each time they respond to a domestic dispute, Geenen said.

Fatigue-inducing 60-hour work weeks as well as instances where people work around hazards instead of fixing them are preventable, potential causes of accidents, Geenen said. "One fatality, let alone 36 fatalities, in a short period of time is way too many."

The events of the past year were still fresh for many of those in the audience of at least 50 that included relatives of Bergen and union representatives.

Bergen, 35, was working on the No. 2 paperboard machine June 30 when he apparently fell through an access door and hit his head, according to law enforcement accounts. He was carried down a conveyor belt and fell into a vat of pulp believed to have a temperature of 130 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, according to law enforcement accounts.

Bergen's death wasn't the only one remembered Wednesday. Liz Chavez talked about how her father, a crane operator, died unloading cast iron pipes from a train car. Union members checked on her family for years after the accident, said Chavez, a retired middle school teacher and former state legislator.

Union was a "good word" in her household because it referred to an organization that made work conditions as safe as possible on construction sites, Chavez said.

What Chavez remembers is a key piece of the history of organized labor, which has won tougher rules that reduce exposures to asbestos, require disclosures of hazardous materials and prevent explosions in chemical plants, said Dave Whaley, president of the AFL-CIO in Boise.

The reforms haven't solved all the issues, Whaley said, noting at the present rate of inspections the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will need 89 years to hit all the businesses in Idaho. "Men and women go to work and never return home."

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.

OSHA is now in its 40 year of protecting workers in the workplace and on the job site. “Workers’ Memorial Day” – a day of remembrance will be held April 28^th and we will ring a bell to honor workers who died either on the job or from illnesses or diseases contracted from the workplace.

The April 28^th ceremony will be held at Pioneer Park’s Bandstand at 4:00 pm with special tributes being paid by the Lewiston Firefighters’ “Pipes and Drums”, the National Anthem by members of the LHS Golden Voices and the playing of “Taps” by Lewiston High School’s band instructor, Gary Gemberling.  This event is sponsored by the United Steelworkers and the Lewis Clark Central Labor Council, which is made up of representation from all regional labor and industrial unions.

We are still compiling the names of those who have been killed in the workplace.  If you know of anyone or would like to honor a friend or loved one who died in the line of work, or from a condition contracted while on the job, please contact Jeff Welle at: thewelles@clearwire.net or call 208.305-4133. Please provide name, age, date of death, workplace, optional short description and any union association, if any. Use “WMD” as the subject line.

 Ceremony to be m/c’d by Ron Tiegen, president of the International Association of Machinists Local Lodge W364 and current CLC president.  Keynote speaker will be the United Steelworkers’ International Vice President, Jon Geenen, formerly from PACE.  Other speakers will be Idaho State Representative, John Rusche, former Idaho Rep. Liz Chavez and Idaho State AFL-CIO president Dave Whaley.  Prayers and Closing Benediction by Rev. Brad Bramlet of ‘New Bridges Community Church’.

Today is Workers Memorial Day, a day that we mourn for those hurt or killed on the job. We also renew our fight for the living. With 4,340 workplace deaths and roughly 50,000-60,000 deaths from occupational illnesses annually, this fight could not be more critical.1 Steelworkers are  fighting against bad policy nationwide that could further threaten our workplace safety and health.

• If proposed right to work legislation becomes law – One of the goals of this legislation is to harm a local’s ability to support itself financially. As a result, locals could struggle to send members to safety trainings and to defend members who encounter safety and health concerns on the job. In those states with right to work laws, workplace deaths are 52.9 percent higher than in non-right to work states.2 A second recent study suggests that states that are working to reduce workplace injuries and fatalities should “consider encouraging trade union growth and repealing right to work laws.”3

• If public sector workers are stripped of bargaining rights – A nurse at a county care facility loses a tool to fight for safer nurse-to-patient ratios. A road maintenance worker loses the ability to bargain for better safety equipment. Without a union to back them up, too many workers keep silent for fear of retaliation when safety and health risks are present. Eliminating bargaining rights eliminates our voice for safety on the job.

• If policies are enacted to limit unions’ ability to engage in the legislative and political process – Unions have always been at the forefront in demanding legislative changes to reduce exposure to safety and health hazards – hazards that too many employers would rather not address. We can’t remove workers’ voices from these debates.

Given that many Steelworkers go to work each day in some of the most dangerous industries, any threat to safety and health on the job can impact us even greater. Mourn for the dead, and let’s keep fighting for the living.

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Note: Numbers are from 2009, the most recently available data. 2 AFL-CIO, Death on the Job, April 2010 3. Ronald Zullo, Right-to-Work Laws and Fatalities in Construction, Institute for Research on Labor, Employment, and the Economy at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, March, 2011.

USW Rapid Response 􀁺 (412) 562-2291 􀁺 http://www.uswrr.org

Forty years ago, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, promising every worker the right to a safe job. Unions and our allies have fought hard to make that promise a reality—winning protections that have made jobs safer, saved hundreds of thousand of lives and prevented millions of workplace injuries and illnesses.  But our work is not done. Many job hazards are unregulated and uncontrolled. Some employers, like Massey Energy and BP, cut corners and violate the law, putting workers in serious danger and costing lives. Each year thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs.

Workers Memorial Day 2009

From the AFL-CIO BLOG by Mike Hall, Apr 27, 2009

The very real threat of being killed or seriously hurt on the job hangs over every worker and workplace in the nation. In 2007—the year with the latest available figures—5,657 workers lost their lives on the job and more than 4 million other workers were hurt or made ill, according to the AFL-CIO’s 18th annual “Death on the Job” report.

Death on the Job” reports that another 50,000 to 60,000 workers died due to occupational diseases. On an average day, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and disease, and another 10,959 are injured. Yet little has been done in recent years, says the report, to improve job safety and protect workers.

For eight years, the Bush administration failed to take action to address major safety and health problems. Many OSHA and [Mine Safety and Health Administration] MSHA rules were withdrawn or blocked. The rules that were issued were largely in response to court challenges, congressional mandates or tragedies. New and emerging hazards were not actively addressed. Voluntary efforts were favored over strong enforcement.

The report is released each year in conjunction with Workers Memorial Day. Unlike the past eight years, the U.S. Department of Labor will join the AFL-CIO, working families and their unions this year to mark the day set aside to honor those killed and hurt in the workplace and to fight for strong workplace safety laws to protect the living.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, along with family members of workers killed or injured,  will take part in a Workers Memorial Day ceremony at the Department of Labor at 8 a.m. April 28. Later in the day, she will join AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and other union leaders and help break ground for a new national workers memorial at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md.

Also set for Workers Memorial Day is the first of two hearings this week by the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee examining the need for stronger penalties for workplace safety violations and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) record on enforcing the nation’s workplace safety laws. The Senate Employment and Worker Safety subcommittee also will hold a job safety hearing April 28.

“Death on the Job” calls current civil penalties for employer violations of workplace safety laws

woefully inadequate, even in cases of workplace fatalities. The OSHAct’s criminal penalty provisions are also very weak and rarely utilized.

The report also notes that years of budget cuts and inadequate funding have crippled the safety agency’s ability to adequately enforce workplace safety standards.

OSHA funding and staffing has not kept pace with the growth in the nation’s workforce. As a result, OSHA’s ability to provide oversight has diminished with the average frequency of federal OSHA inspections now more than once every 137 years for covered workplaces.

The new Obama administration and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate hold the promise for new and stronger workplace safety standards, says Sweeney.

Working people are looking to the new President to strengthen the OSHAct with tougher civil and criminal penalties, increase funding for OSHA to provide greater oversight, and fully implement the provisions of the MINER Act.

Just last week, legislation (H.R. 2067) was introduced to strengthen health and safety penalties, bring more workers under the protection of OSHA, protect workers who blow the whistle on employers who break the law and strengthen worker safety rights.

The report also shows that Latino workers continue to face much higher risks of death on the job. In 2007, 937 Latino workers were killed on the job. The fatality rate among these workers was 4.6 per 100,000 workers, 21 percent higher than the fatal injury rate for all U.S. workers. Since 1992, the number of fatalities among Latino workers has increased by 76 percent from 533 fatal injuries in 1992.

The report provides an in-depth state-by-state analysis on workplace safety, the most dangerous occupations, a breakdown of fatalities by race, the dollar toll of workplace deaths and injuries, a look at OSHA inspection and enforcement actions and more.

Click here to download a copy of “Death on the Job.”

Hundreds of Workers Memorial Day events around the nation, including at Wildwood School in Los Angeles, where 12th graders will join with members of CLEAN (the Community Labor Environmental Action Network) and the Carwash Workers Organizing Committee (CWOC) of the United Steelworkers (USW), to spotlight the unsafe working conditions in the Southern California car wash industry.

In Boston, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and the Greater Boston Labor Council will hold a ceremony on the state House honoring Bay State workers killed on the job. MassCOSH will release its annual report “Dying for Work in Massachusetts: The Loss of Life and Limb in Massachusetts.” You can download a copy of the report at www.masscosh.org and www.massaflcio.org.

In Minnesota, unions will honor workers killed on the job at events in Apple Valley, Duluth, Mankato, Minneapolis, Oakdale, Rochester and St. Paul.