Ceremony honors those killed on the job in Whatcom County and across state
Workers who died of a workplace incident, illness or hazardous exposure in 2024 were honored in a solemn ceremony Monday in Bellingham that paid tribute to nearly 100 Washington residents, including a retired firefighter from Blaine who died of job-related cancer.
Several union representatives and local government officials spoke during the event, drawing on the history of the U.S. labor movement and efforts to increase protections for workers.
April 28 marks the date that the Occupational Safety and Health Act became law in 1971 after decades of effort, said Tony Melillo, president of the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council.
“Remember the dead. (And) fight for the living. We recommit ourselves to the hard daily work of making every job a safe job,” Melillo said, paraphrasing 19th century labor activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones.
About 50 people attended the event at Lee Memorial Park on the Bellingham Public Library’s north lawn, where a plaque honors workers killed and injured on the job.
The names of 97 Washington workers who died of job-related injury or illness were recited aloud, followed by the toll of a bell.
They included Leslee Smith, who was one of Whatcom County’s first women firefighters. Smith, who died of job-related cancer, is also being honored this weekend in a ceremony at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Md.
At least two Whatcom County workers have died this year of a job-related injury or illness, and they well be honored next year.
Bellingham Mayor pro-tem Michael Lilliquist read a joint proclamation of support from Mayor Kim Lund and Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu. Several members of the Bellingham City Council and Whatcom County Council attended.
Keynote speaker Mark McDermott, a labor educator whose arm was permanently injured while he was a machinist at a Seattle shipyard, encouraged those in attendance to keep fighting for workplace safety.
“One million workers were killed on the job in the 20th century in the United States,” McDermott said. “That is more than all of the combat deaths in the U.S. armed forces from the end of the Civil War to today. I don’t understand why we don’t have statues all across the county to the fallen workers, because they helped create the enormous wealth and the beauty of our country.”
Afterward a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” and a bugler sounded taps.
“We’re standing on the shoulders of working-class fighters who never gave up because they knew that their lives were at risk, whether it was by direct injury or industrial diseases. This wasn’t given to us. We took this in a long, difficult and bitter struggle that literally lasted generations,” McDermott said.
This story was originally published May 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
