MENDOCINO Co,, 4/23/19 — Every year across the nation Workers’s Memorial Day is commemorated on April 28, to honor those who have died and been seriously injured while on the job. And every year since 1999 the day has been commemorated in Mendocino County. This year a ceremony at the Community Foundation of Mendocino will honor two men who died while working in Mendocino County, Battalion Chief Matthew Burchett, the 42 year old Utahan who was killed fighting the Ranch fire last summer, and Guadalupe Becerra, 55 of Fort Bragg, a logging truck driver who was killed after an accident near Yorkville on Aug. 31.
Workers’ Memorial Day was begun by the AFL-CIO in 1989 to honor the thousands killed and injured on the job each year, and highlight worker safety — the day is also the anniversary of the enactment of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA).
Yesterday at the Mendocino County Board of Supervisor’s meeting, the supervisors issued a proclamation (see below), sponsored by Supervisors Carre Brown and John McCowen.
In Mendocino the event has long been organized by Terry Poplawski, a retired postal worker and a life long union member. He noted at the meeting that the logging industry was one of the county’s most dangerous, and that this is the third year in the row the county has commemorated a death in the local logging industry.
The annual workers’ memorial event takes place in coordination with similar events around the state and country to honor workers killed or seriously injured on the job.
This year the event will be held at the Community Foundation of Mendocino County on April 28 at 3 p.m, and will be hosted by the North Bay Central Labor Council and the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations). The Community Foundation is located at 204 S. Oak St., Ukiah, CA 95482.
Proclamation