On the recordApril 28, 2021
Mr. President, today is Workers Memorial Day, when we remember all of the workers in our Nation who have been killed, who have been injured, or who became sick on the job. On this day, we reflect upon the losses these workers and their families have suffered, and we also--and I believe we must--recommit ourselves to ensuring that every worker in America is safe on the job. On a day like today, I am remembering Pennsylvania workers--not only the workers of today and the challenges they face in the workplace and the challenges their families still face, especially in the grip of and, we hope, ultimately in the aftermath of a terrible pandemic, but we are also, of course, remembering those who came before them, generations of workers in a State like Pennsylvania, folks who built this country, made this country run, and helped us win World War II, not to mention other battles, economic and otherwise. So we are remembering those stories. I am also remembering, of course, on a day like today a lot of stories from my home area. I live in northeastern Pennsylvania. I live in Scranton, PA, which at one time was the anthracite coal capital of the world, that region was. Every family, every community seemed to have a story about one of their loved ones--sometimes a grandfather or a great grandfather or an uncle or a grandmother or some relative--and how they struggled in those days. One story is not, unfortunately, atypical.…





