April 28 is Workers' Memorial Day. Join us the following day, Tuesday, April 29, at 6:30 p.m., to honor those who have fallen on the job due to accidents or occupational exposure with a panel discussion featuring local laborers, scholars, and affected family members.
The panel discussion will focus on the particular impact of asbestos in the workplace and its overall impact on our community. WGLT Senior Reporter Charlie Schlenker will moderate the five-person panel of George Martinez, Larry Mertes, Jim Walker, Cheryl Wills, and Dr. Ericka Wills.
George Martinez is an asbestos remediation instructor for the Laborers International Union Training and Education Fund. He will share the costly impact asbestos continues to have and the training workers today receive to mitigate asbestos.
Larry Mertes is a retired Laborers International Union Local 362 member who worked in the UNARCO asbestos plant during its final year of operation. He will share first-hand accounts of the workers' conditions at the UNARCO plant.
Jim Walker is a retired Twin Cities attorney who represented local asbestos workers in the 1970s and 1980s. He will detail the lengthy litigation process workers face to settle occupational disease claims.
Cheryl Wills' father, Willard Tipsord, worked at UNARCO and ultimately died of mesothelioma in 1989. She will illuminate the impact asbestos exposure had on her family.
Dr. Ericka Wills, an assistant professor in the School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a labor educator and activist. She is also Willard Tipsord's granddaughter. Dr. Wills will close the discussion with remarks and reflections before opening the floor for Q&A.
This free event is a part of the Museum's ongoing programming series related to the temporary third-floor exhibit, A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County, presented by LiUNA! Midwest Region Laborers' International Union of North America.
To learn more about the exhibit, please click here.
Questions? Please contact the Museum's Education Department by clicking here or calling us at 309-827-0428.