diff --git a/signal.c b/signal.c
index c87c508..102c3cf 100644
--- a/signal.c
+++ b/signal.c
@@ -25,9 +25,6 @@
 
 #include "espeakup.h"
 
-/* A struct sigaction with all values set to zero. */
-static struct sigaction OUR_SIGACTION_INITIALIZER;
-
 /*
  * We install a dummy signal handler to let the o/s know that we
  * do not want the default action to be performed since we are
@@ -39,10 +36,11 @@ static void dummy_handler(int sig)
 
 void *signal_thread(void *arg)
 {
-	struct sigaction temp = OUR_SIGACTION_INITIALIZER;
+	struct sigaction temp;
 	sigset_t sigset;
 	int sig;
 
+	memset(&temp, 0, sizeof (struct sigaction));
 	/* install dummy handlers for the signals we want to process */
 	temp.sa_handler = dummy_handler;
 	sigemptyset(&temp.sa_mask);