Workers Memorial Day
April 28th, 11am
Workers' Monument

In Indianapolis, Workers Memorial Day is observed at a public ceremony April 28th, at 11 a.m. at the workers' monument at West Street and Government Plaza which was dedicated April 28, 1995, to all workers in Indiana who were killed or injured on the job.

Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions. But 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. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers Memorial Day.

Workers Memorial Day was first observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada. Every year, people in hundreds of communities and at worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.

Read the AFL-CIO 2008 Health and Safety Update here.

AFL-CIO VIDEO CONTEST TURNS AROUND AMERICA

A new video contest - launched by the AFL-CIO last week - is putting the creativity of people across the country to work to discuss how to put America back on the right track. The video contest is part of the AFL-CIO's "Turn Around America" mobilization that is working to build grassroots momentum among working families "to elect leaders who will fight for health care, workers' freedom to form unions, fair trade and an economy that works for all," reports Mike Hall on the AFL-CIO Now Weblog. The contest will run from April 10-May 20 and winners will be announced in early June. Winners will receive cash prizes and the chance to have their video run as part of the AFL-CIO's "Turn Around America" television ad campaign. For more info and to submit your video, click here.

UNEMPLOYED WORKER WEBSITE RE-LAUNCHED

The National Employment Law Project has re-launched its website. Designed to provide information to workers and their advocates "who are struggling to navigate today's tough economic times and to provide a voice for the unemployed in Washington," the website first went live 5 years ago. "With the job market continuing to take a turn for the worse, NELP has updated the materials on the website," reports NELP's Federal Advocacy Coordinator Judy Conti, "with updates on the debate over extended unemployment benefits and statistics and reports on the unemployment situation."

Smithfield Workers

PAULA DEEN'S BROKEN PROMISE: television celebrity chef Paula Deen -- the public face of unionbuster Smithfield Foods -- has not made good on her promise on Larry King Live three months ago to meet with Smithfield workers on his show. Despite repeated pleas by workers from Smithfield's Tar Heel plant to meet with them, listen to their plight, and help them bring better safety and work conditions to their plant, Deen has ignored their requests.

From Nancy Holle, CFLC President: I stopped my subscription to Paula's magazine.

Click HERE to support the Smithfield Workers' Fund

Contact Paula at: http://www.pauladeen.com/contact

Post Card Campaign

CFLC helped raise minimum wage for Hoosiers. State Rep. John Day was invited to speak at our meeting and updated us through the '07 legislative session. With support of Let Justice Roll and Interfaith Worker Justice, our campaign involved a citizen postcard campaign and raising the morality of a higher wage to legislators. The hard work of many groups got this law passed. Indiana's minimum wage now raises with the federal minimum wage act, raising pay for workers covered by the state act as the federal wage increases. New minimum wage: 7/24/07 - $5.85; 7/24/08 - $6.55, and 7/24/09 - $7.25. This improves the previous $5.15 wage which had not been changed in 10 years, but it is still not a living wage!

Click for the U.S. DOL interactive minimum wage map.

Campaign to Educate

To learn how your money is being spent now, take a look at the city and county government budgets:
    View Indianapolis' budget
    View Marion County's budget

To keep updated about Council meetings, check the calendar often:
    Council Calendar

Local government meetings are broadcast live or rebroadcast on cable channel WCTY TV:
    Local government channel TV 1
    Schedule for TV 1 - Comcast 16 (including archived programs)
    Local government channel TV 2
    Schedule for TV 2 - Comcast 28 (including archived programs)