San Francisco, CACalifornians are holding a number of events this Workers' Memorial Day to commemorate and defend workers worldwide who have been injured and killed on the job, from biotech workers to farmhands to dock workers. These events are also held to ensure the future health and safety of workers according to California labor law.
A press conference took place yesterday in front of Pfizer Research Facility. One of the speakers was injured Pfizer molecular biologist Becky McClain, who recently won a $1.37 million judgment against Pfizer.
McClain, a former member of the company's safety committee, claimed to have been infected by an experimental virus while working at Pfizer Inc.'s Groton Laboratories. She also claimed that Pfizer violated her freedom of speech by terminating her after she pressed complaints with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and that Pfizer violated whistleblower laws.
A US District Court jury in Hartford found that the company retaliated against her and interfered with her right to free speech. The jury also decided to award punitive damages, so Pfizer might be on the hook for well over $2 million. "The fact that the largest drug company in the world has such contempt for the protection of their thousands of scientists is a stark warning that the present protective laws are not being enforced and need to be seriously strengthened," said Steve Zeltzer, chair of the California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day (CCWMD), a group that advocates for employees hurt on the job.
This year the CCWMD is focusing on the need for health and safety protection, regulation and standards for new industries such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. On April 27 at Davis, Biotech worker David Bell was the focus: he was infected at Agraquest Laboratory and the owner Pam Marrone refused to take responsibility for his injuries.
On April 19 injured movie industry and hospital workers as well as other injured workers and their families spoke about health and safety. Downey Kaiser Hospital complex was built on one of the most toxic sites in the LA area, and hundreds of workers have been sickened due to the failure of the developer to properly clean up the site and the failure of federal and state regulatory agencies to properly regulate health and safety protection.
The CCWM participated in a mock funeral procession on April 24 with labor activists and area unions in Los Angeles neighborhoods as part of a "memorial day" rally honoring workers injured or killed in the workplace each year.
A number of people were memorialized at the procession, including Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, 17, a pregnant farmhand who died in 2008 after collapsing in the heat while pruning vines in California; and Carlos Rivera, 73, a dock worker who was killed in an accident at the Port of Long Beach in 2008.
Aura Lopez, 29, attended the rally. She is a former car wash worker from Los Angeles who is permanently disabled after falling and injuring her spine in 2008 at work. She says she has filed a civil claim against her former employer, who has since gone into bankruptcy. Other car wash workers who attended said their workshops suffered from a chronic lack of safety equipment. "I want to avoid that what happened to me happens to anyone else," said Lopez??"a sentiment echoed by many people who attended. A number of people held posters that read in both English and Spanish: "No job is worth more than our lives" and "Remember the dead??"fight for the living."