With song, prayer and testimony, workers killed on the job this past year were remembered at NYSUT headquarters during the annual Workers Memorial Day observance.

NYSUT Secretary-Treasurer Lee Cutler noted the "solemn day" provided the union an opportunity to repeat its call to federal and state lawmakers that they make worker health and safety a priority.

"It is incumbent upon organized labor to fight like hell for the living," Cutler said. Among those memorialized at the April 28 ceremony was Lance Gregson. The 44-year-old husband of Schroon Lake Teachers Association member Anne Gregson died from injuries suffered in a 30-foot fall from scaffolding while working as a stone mason.

In a moment that moved the audience, state Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith told of how a mine collapse in her western Pennsylvania hometown claimed the lives of 100 workers. Smith said some of those killed were the fathers of children she played with.

The horrifying incident, she said, inspired her to dedicate her life to improving work conditions for laborers.