The labor movement uses April 28th as a day for annual reflection in honor of workers who have been hurt or fatally injured on the job. Last year, the AFT Maryland and the City Union of Baltimore (CUB) Local 800 called a press conference remembering city workers who were fatally harmed at work, and calling on Baltimore city to improve health and safety standards for current city employees. This year, the annual commemoration held a particularly bitter sting as the labor movement mourned six workers killed when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore in March.
In a ceremony dedicated to those and all other workers killed on the job in Maryland this year, the national, state, and local AFL-CIO convened labor, elected officials, and community leaders to remember fallen workers. The ceremony took place at Middle Branch Park on the banks of the Patapsco River, into which the Key Bridge collapsed. AFT Maryland President Kenya Campbell was one of the labor leaders in attendance and she reflected on the solemnity of the day.
“It is devastating whenever we lose one worker, let alone many. Sadly we have felt the sting of losing a member on the job with the 2019 death of Trina Cunningham. It was important that AFT Maryland show up in solidarity for the families of the fallen and for workers everywhere who were fatally hurt at work,” said Campbell.
Metro Baltimore AFL-CIO President Courtney Jenkins reminded those in attendance “it doesn’t matter what trade you’re in… We’re all brothers and sisters, and everyone has an inherent right to a job that ensures they can go home safely to their family at the end of their shift.”
The event featured appearances from Mayor Brandon Scott, Maryland Secretary of Labor Portia Wu, and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. Following remarks that also included a prayer from Father Ty Hullinger of Transfiguration Catholic Community Parish, leaders laid six wreaths in the Patapsco River in honor of the six fallen workers from the Key Bridge. Construction workers in Maryland have a unique workplace fatality rate relative to their size of the workforce. According to Secretary Wu, construction workers make up only five percent of Maryland workers, but 30% of workplace fatalities.
Story by AFT Maryland staff
2024-04-29