In late September, dozens of residents gathered for a solemn ceremony at the Leo Gerard Workers’ Memorial Park in Sudbury, Ont. – hometown of the late United Steelworkers International President.
The event drew family members and friends of 28 Sudbury-area workers who were recently killed on the job or whose deaths were officially recognized as being caused by occupational disease. On Sept. 28, the workers’ names were added to the park’s commemorative wall, which honours the memory of area residents who lost their lives due to their jobs.
The 28 new names added to the commemorative wall have brought the total number of workers who are memorialized at the park to 902. Created by the City of Greater Sudbury, the tranquil urban park was opened in 2012.
The latest names added to the memorial reinforce the need for greater commitments from governments and employers to health and safety protections for workers, said Ray Hammond, president of USW Local 6500, representing some 3,000 mining workers in Sudbury.
“These new names tell us that the work of prevention is unfinished and that the cost of unsafe work is carried far beyond the workplace. It is carried by spouses, children, parents, siblings, co-workers and entire communities,” Hammond said at the Sept. 28 commemorative ceremony.
“Our standard must be simple and absolute: every worker deserves to come home from work the same way they left. They should come home with their health, their dignity and their future intact.”
The commemorative wall at the Leo Gerard Workers’ Memorial Park is maintained and updated by the Sudbury and District Labour Council.
Many more names could be included on the memorial wall, but there are significant gaps in the recording of workplace deaths, said Labour Council president Jessica Montgomery, a member of USW Local 2020.
“We know there are many work-related deaths which have not been recognized in the past, particularly for workers who died from occupational disease and for non-union workers. We would like to be able to honour the memory of all those workers,” Montgomery said.
[PHOTO: Ray Hammond, USW Local 6500 president, addresses families and friends of 28 workers whose names were added to the commemorative wall at the Leo Gerard Workers’ Memorial Park in Sudbury, at September ceremony.]
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