In this Entry:

Social Action/ Worker Memorial Day
Personal Reflection/ Young Worker Fatalities
Book Recommendations/ S.R. Stoner’s Sage Series

Social Action

Today is Workers Memorial Day. I suspect most Americans are unaware of this memorial for those lives lost on the job this past year. And importantly, our repeated reminder that we can and must do better. More than 50 years ago, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act to ensure that all working people have the right to a safe job. This law requires employers to provide workplaces free from recognized hazards. And yet every year, thousands of workers never make it home at the end of the day. “Workers Memorial Day also calls on us to fight for the living to protect the lives and livelihoods of our loved ones, our friends, neighbors, and coworkers, along with the nameless others who provide us with the goods and services we rely on every day.” (From Remembering Our Nation’s Workers by Kathleen Rest).

Most years I join others to acknowledge this loss at Oregon’s Salem Capitol, joining leaders from Oregon OSHA, ACLU, and dozens of representatives of other organizations and individual workers. Most important are the invited guests: families who have lost a loved one to a workplace fatality. Tears run freely as each name is slowly read. To honor. To remember. This year, Oregon lost 37 workers on the job.

And below: the Oregon workers killed on the job in 2025 with their occupations; Oregon OSHA Administrator Renee Stapleton reminds us that we must do better; as does Governor Tina Kotek.

Personal Reflection

While I have advocated for worker safety my entire career, keeping young workers safe has been an important quest for me and many of my colleagues. We founded the Oregon Young Employee Safety Coalition, O[yes], over twenty years ago. All volunteer non-profit organizations like O[yes] are tough to sustain, and I’m grateful for the folks who too have committed to supporting this group and its initiatives. Sadly, its original premise still exists today: twice as many workers under the age of 25 get hurt on the job than those older. Most of us who recall early jobs we had, or have raised kids understand the factors that lead to this. The very best employers understand what it takes to defeat those odds. Long ago I was invited to share tips in this syndicated column (Kids and Money: Workplace Safety for Teens).

I still remember the angst I felt years ago upon receiving a phone call from my daughter in the middle of a work day. She was crying, upset with herself over getting a needlestick injury while working as a college student at a UO lab drawing human blood. I calmed her as we talked through the procedures she needed to take to ensure she had not been exposed to a bloodborne pathogen, nor would be at risk of illness. Ironically, as I stood outside my office where it too was part of my job to take calls from folks unsure where to go next regarding workplace health and safety issues, I reminded her it was not her fault she had not then been trained how to do the procedure safely. Yet, she was determined to prove herself in this workplace, falsely believing it all rested on her shoulders.

That, however, is incidental as compared to the loss experienced by a family in our community this past summer. The loss of a young man whose name is listed above. This kind and smart eighteen year old died on the job, yes in one of our most dangerous industries, construction . An industry where we today gratefully have some top leaders and companies who know how to operate safely. Who take training and safe operating procedures seriously. Who encourage their employees, especially those newer to a job or work, to feel comfortable to ask questions. And while I did write a recent blog for O[yes] about the impact of a fatality like this on communities, I did not share the grief I feel so deeply in my heart. This young man who grew up in the same community as my children, attending the same high school. About to finish his last shifts before heading to college. Nothing in the world can make up for this. I’ll repeat this over and over, perhaps to my last days. Each person deserves fair, decent and safe work.

Book Recommendations

Through the lens of literature we often find a way to both take in and process profound loss. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the last two books I have read are within author SR Stoner’s Sage Adair Historical Mystery series, “written for those who are fighting for and, support progressive change today.” The eight Sage Adair Mysteries are set in early 1900s Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The author does an amazing job researching and accurately placing her stories, and keeping the reader turning the books’ pages.

First, I’ll mention my serendipitous introduction to Susan Stoner. How many times do I mention those little acts of connection that sometimes become big? After asking my friend labor historian Marcus Widenor to review an early draft of A Map of My Own, he asked me if I knew Susan. When I replied no, he introduced us by email. Immediately, I read her book Timber Beasts. Susan had a long history as a labor attorney, and – like me – found a passion for creative writing. As we first traded notes, Susan kindly offered a blurb for A Map of Her Own. Earlier this year, we had a joint book event at Portland’s Chaparral Books, and I learned even more about her writing. This was preceded by a coffee date where, I think it is fair to say, we hit if off.

I recently finished the books:

Bitter Cry

From the cover: “Night fog drives a young newsboy into a seedy salloon where his appearance catapults Sage Adair into a world of painful memories, child exploitation and franctic searches for missing loved ones.”

Too, we learn about real Portland people of that era, like Millie Trumbull who not only worked with numerous organizations dedicated to social improvement, but served as the Oregon Child Labor Commission’s first staff person. We meet Harry Lane whose grandfather was the first territorial governor and senator of Oregon but who was referred to as Portland’s “Poor People’s Doctor,” among many other real people. I found myself yet again recognizing how naive I have been to aspects of early Portland. While difficult to read bits of it, I’m grateful to be enlightened and to have Stoner helping us remember the past. While it does help us realize that workplaces have improved, it doesn’t take any sting out of still having workplace fatalities that could have been prevented.

Preservation:

From the cover: “Once again, Sage is learning painful lessons. Like, what you eat might kill you. Diving deep into the heart of why, he finds angry doctors, endangered children, corruption, and murder. This time he and his trusted friends must join hands with the doctors, women, and famers who are fighting the good fight.”

While I’m not sure why the two of us were talking about formaldehyde (but yes, friends, probably in the context of discussing formaldehyde in hair products), Susan suggested I pick up this book. Egads! Hair products and exposure to stylists is bad enough but formaldhyde in milk?! This book also brings in Trumbull and Lane, along with additional real characters and organizations, like the Grange and Portland Women’s Club. (Yes, I mention Portland Women’s Club as an organization character Emma from A Map of Her Own volunteered with.)

Besides these two books, Susan’s books include: Timber Beasts, Land Sharks, Dry Rot, Black Drop, Dead Line, The Mangle, Slow Burn and Unseen. You can find Susan’s books in all the usual places, and including (like mine) at Chaparral Books in Portland.

Listen to my recent interview with Ken Jones on KBOO’s Jonesy Hour.

What books have you read lately that delve into advocacy in the workplace and labor? I’d love to know!