Hi John -

Each April, the unions of the AFL-CIO observe Workers Memorial Day to remember those who have tragically died on the job and to reflect on the state of safety and health protections in our country.  

And we just released our 34th annual “Death on the Job” report, with the alarming finding that 385 U.S. workers died every day from hazardous working conditions in 2023, the latest year of data available. For the year, that was 5,283 fatalities from injury and 135,304 from occupational disease.

More findings: 

• Black workers are dying at higher rates than other workers, and Latino workers have the highest job fatality rate, at 26% above the national average.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has only one inspector for every 85,000 workers. With the OSHA’s budget, that comes out to just $3.92 to protect each worker.
• Health care and social assistance workers have seen a 57% increase in serious workplace violence injuries in the last 15 years.
• At least 55 U.S. workers died from preventable exposure to heat—and that is a significant undercount.

And the Trump administration’s cuts to federal agencies that protect the health and safety of American workers will only make jobs less safe: gutting the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the agency that delivers critical health and safety expertise for both workers and employers; eliminating OSHA offices in states with high workplace fatality rates; and eliminating offices of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which protects coal miners from hazards such as black lung disease.

Not to mention allowing Elon Musk, whose companies are being investigated for dozens of workplace safety and health violations, to pursue access to sensitive OSHA data through his inquisition into the Department of Labor.

Join us at a Workers Memorial Day event near you. Every worker deserves to go home at the end of the work day healthy and safe, and we’ll keep fighting to make that a reality. 

Can’t make it? Catch up on the report and call Congress to tell them to stop the cuts to NIOSH.

A safe workplace is a fundamental right.

In Solidarity,

Team AFL-CIO

P.S. Find an AFL-CIO and Department of People Who Work for a Living event near you and learn how to fight for safe jobs and other pro-worker policies.

Text WORK to AFLCIO (235246) to join our text action team. (Message and data rates may apply.)