Mother Jones' most famous quotation, "Mourn the dead, but fight like hell for the living," has been at the heart of Workers Memorial Day since it was first observed in 1989.

Since then, it is one day each year when America's workers and their unions honor the thousands of men and women killed on the job and the hundreds of thousands more hurt or made ill by workplace hazards.

On this April 28, the AFL-CIO has coordinated events and actions around the nation to celebrate the more than a quarter of a million working men and women alive today because of the far-reaching and successful workplace safety battles workers and their unions have won.

Events are scheduled in cities around the nation, from candlelight vigils and marches to letter-writing and petition-signing campaigns.

The AFL-CIO notes that decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions.

Fewer workers are getting hurt or sick. The injury and illness rate fell from 11 per 100 workers in 1973 to 5.7 per 100 in 2001.

Next steps

Even though worker safety and health laws have grown stronger and more effective over the years, the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous.

Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs.

Health and safety activists are taking the next steps toward guaranteeing worker safety on the job by:

• Ensuring all workers have OSHA protection. Coverage must be extended to the millions of state and local government employees, transportation and others who fall outside the protection of the federal government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration;

• Addressing new safety and health issues arising from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including biohazards, emergency response and security and surveillance of workers cleaning up the World Trade Center site;

• Confronting new threats to workers' safety and health — repetitive strain injuries, workplace violence and stress and extended work hours — as changes in technology, work processes and management techniques are introduced;

• Updating standards and issuing new rules to limit exposures to toxic chemicals, silica, ergonomics hazards and other dangers; and

• Securing fair and timely compensation for the hundreds of thousands of workers who have been exposed to asbestos and have — or will develop — deadly diseases.

To find out what's happening in your area and how to organize an event or order Workers Memorial Day materials, check out afl-cio.org/issues/safety/memorial/, telephone the AFL-CIO Occupational Safety and Health Department at (202) 637-5366 or e-mail oshamail@aflcio.org.