Kokomo gathers to remember those lost on the job

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Dave Willis got put on the spot, but he was ready for it. Talking about safety on the job is something he lives to do. As a member and the president of UAW Local 1166, he has experienced the loss of three fellow workers and union members on the job at the Kokomo Casting Plant.

On April 28, he was asked to express the importance of Workers’ Memorial Day and to honor the lives of those who never came home from their shift at work. Job-related fatalities aren’t limited to the family, he explained.

“I'm here to tell you, it affects you just like you were blood,” Willis said of losing co-workers. “And it's something I never want to go through again. I can't even imagine what the families go through on something like this, because there's never any great, solid answer. It really creates a problem inside the plant and outside the plant when stuff like this happens.”

Willis, whose union represents workers at the StarPlus Energy EV battery plant, said his local currently is fighting a managerial mindset, originating from South Korea, that puts the company above the lives of its employees.

“I get mad when I see this stuff,” said Willis. “It is a different mentality we are fighting right now. The company actually sent out an email that says, ‘To keep the production lines running, be prepared to lay down your life.’ This is the mentality that we're faced with. This is what we have to fight. These are the things we have to worry about.”

The fight for workers’ safety didn’t end in 1970. It continues today.

Workers’ Memorial Day received two days of recognition this year in Kokomo. While the fight for workplace safety was championed at the Mayor’s Labor Breakfast on April 25, the cause continued on April 28 as people gathered to honor those who have fallen on the job.

Glenn Rogers, a UAW Local 292 retiree and organizer of the Workers’ Memorial Day ceremony on Monday in Highland Park, explained that the date was chosen because it coincides with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970. From that legislation, an entire federal agency was established to protect workers on the job.

Despite efforts over the years to improve working conditions across the country, 5,283 people received fatal injuries at work in 2024, Rogers said.

“That’s 14 people a day who go to work and never return home,” said Rogers. “One American worker loses their life every 99 minutes.”

Former UAW Local 292 President Midge Collett spoke at the ceremony and explained the importance of having an agency like OSHA in place to protect workers.

“In its first half century, OSHA has helped transform America's workplace in ways that have significantly reduced fatalities,” said Collett. “It’s often taken for granted, but OSHA is responsible for overseeing the safety and health of 160 million workers at more than 8,000,000 work sites.

“In 2024, OSHA investigated 826 deaths, an 11-percent reduction from the previous year. This is the lowest number of lower fatalities OSHA has been mandated to investigate since 2017.”

Collett urged those in attendance to defend the workers’ right to safety by demanding strong enforcement of work safety laws and to speak up against unsafe working conditions. She also called for stronger civil and criminal penalties against companies that knowingly violate those laws.

“On Workers’ Memorial Day, we spend the day honoring workers who have tragically lost their lives or have been injured on the job,” said Collett. “We mourn their loss and extend our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones.

“Every worker deserves to return home safe and healthy at the end of their workday. So, as Mother Jones said, we pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

Kokomo has commemorated Workers’ Memorial Day for the past 36 years, thanks to the widow of a factory worker, Pat Harden, who pledged that her spouse and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died in unsafe working conditions are never forgotten. And through this event, awareness is raised about the need for greater protections.

For more information about the national workers’ memorial ceremony and the efforts to protect workers on the job, visit www.osha.gov.