In a solemn and solitary ceremony at the IAM’s Winpisinger Center, the IAM paid homage to U.S. and Canadian members and leaders the union has lost in the past year.
As the IAM and the globe deals with the effects of the most serious pandemic in more than 100 years, the union pledged to continue to do everything in its power to keep its members safe.
WATCH: 2020 IAM Workers’ Memorial Day Ceremony
“From the very beginning of this pandemic, the IAM has made it our No. 1 priority to keep our membership—and their families—safe,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Mark my words, the Fighting Machinists demand that every member goes home healthy every single day.”
The IAM has called on governments and employers in the U.S. and Canada to provide essential workers with personal protective equipment and to institute CDC guidelines at all workplaces.
“It is wrong, immoral and unethical for workers’ health to be imperiled in the pursuit of profit,” said Martinez. “The lives of transportation workers, aerospace workers, healthcare workers, airline workers, government employees, factory workers, rail workers, woodworkers and any worker matter.”
The names of IAM members who have died on the job are memorialized with their name, lodge and date of death with a brick at the IAM’s Workers’ Memorial at the Winpisinger Center.
The IAM continues to update members we have lost to COVID-19 on our In Memoriam page.
Visit the IAM’s COVID-19 Resource Center for the latest information on the pandemic.