"Mourn for the Dead, Fight for the Living"

The rights of the working man and woman were a major focus this weekend with the observation of Workers Memorial Day on April 28.

According to a Huffington Post blog by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, the day is meant to honor those workers who have become injured or sick or killed on the job.

According to Casey, Bureau of Labor Statistics report that in 2011, four million people were injured while working and 4,693 workers in the U.S. were killed on the job.

New Brunswick's own New Labor took their observation of Workers' Memorial Day to the streets on Sunday to be among those who are affected by and at risk of illness, injury and death at the workplace.

New Labor is a nonprofit organization that educates and campaigns for workers rights including fair wages, safe working conditions and fair treatment by employers. Its membership base is predominantly Latino.

The group marched from their headquarters on Bayard Street around the city, ending at the intersection of Jersey Avenue and Route 27, where a workers' rights workshop was held.

Pointing to the recent explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant that killed 14, a New Jersey man who suffocated at a Bucks County, Pa. sugar plant and a garment factory collapse in Bangladesh, the group said that these events serve "as stark reminders that workers here in the U.S. and all over the world are exposed to job hazards that are still unregulated and uncontrolled and employers continue to cut corners and violate the law, putting workers in serious danger and costing lives."

"However, workers are fighting back," the organization said, in a press release. "In a demonstration of international solidarity, workers are connecting the local to the global in their effort fight back against some of the biggest health and safety abusers."

For more information on New Labor, visit www.newlabor.org.