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Workers' memorial to be held along Delaware

Labor leaders and workers will gather beside the Delaware River this morning for a memorial service to honor workers who have died on the job.

Labor leaders and workers will gather beside the Delaware River this morning for a memorial service to honor workers who have died on the job.

The annual Workers' Memorial Day event begins with a breakfast at the Sheetmetal Workers hall on Columbus Boulevard. Among the scheduled speakers are the families of people who died at work.

This morning they will announce the formation of a support and advocacy group created by and for the families of those whose relatives went to work and never came home.

Barbara Rahke, executive director of the Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health, said the event is intended to garner support for strengthening the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Even though the law, enacted 38 years ago, increased safety on the job, the act's penalties are often too week to foster any significant deterrence, she said.

After the breakfast, there will be a funeral procession along the boulevard with a brief service at Penn's Landing. The names of 168 workers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware who died between March 2007 and March 2008 will be read.