The Social Action Committee invites you to a film and panel discussion sponsored by the Occupational Health Clinical Center and other community organizations to commemorate Workers’ Memorial Day, remembering those workers who have died or become injured, ill, or disabled from workplace hazards.
A Day’s Work will be shown at the Massena High School Auditorium on April 30 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in 103 Kellas Hall, SUNY-Potsdam, on May 5 from 4 to 6 p.m., and in Plattsburgh the day before. The film explores the hazards facing temporary and new workers, focusing on 21-year-old Lawrence DaQuan “Day” Davis. In 2012, he died 90 minutes into his first-ever job, assigned by a temporary staffing agency to a Bacardi plant in Florida. The issue is explored through the eyes of Davis’ family — especially his 17-year-old sister Antonia — and specialists in health and safety and temp work.
About three million Americans — two percent of the entire workforce — now work through a temp agency, in almost every occupation. Numbers for this region are difficult to estimate, because the Department of Labor keeps track of them in only seven of the 26 counties.
The free film screenings include a participatory panel discussion about the film and its local implications. Panelists include the film’s executive producer, Dave DeSario, a local Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) representative, and union and community representatives familiar with the issue. A leading temp work researcher, former SUNY-Postdam professor Dr. George Gonos, also will participate.
Workers’ Memorial Day — April 28 — was first observed in the United States in 1989. Originating in Canada in 1986, it now is an international day — and sometimes week — featuring events, marches, posters, and reports.
Please visit https://aDaysWorkUpstateNY.eventbrite.com to RSVP and for details about each showing in the tour.
For more information, contact Relani Prudhomme, prudhomr@upstate.edu.