Trump guts agencies key to keeping worksites safe

May 23, 2025 by

Don Mullin (L), executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, draped a black sash over the cross bearing the name of Daniel Lee, who died on the jobsite in November when a structural column fell on him. Ironworkers Local 512 President Troy Sebion held Lee’s cross during the Workers Memorial Day ceremony on the Capitol grounds. Sebion called Lee his best friend and said Lee nominated him to serve as the union’s president. “He was the best,” Sebion said. “Good worker, good father, horrible golfer. I miss him.”

Local unions’ Workers Memorial Day observances took on heightened urgency this year, as the Trump administration sought to hollow out federal agencies critical to protecting workers from injury, illness and death on the job.

Workers Memorial Day falls on April 28, the date President Richard Nixon signed the Occupa-tional Safety and Health Act into law in 1971. Unions across the U.S. hold events to honor workers who died on the job and rededicate their organizations to fighting for safer workplaces.

But 54 years since the landmark, bipartisan law took effect, Trump and his billionaire backers are moving to dramatically – and recklessly, unions say – to scale back the federal government’s investment in workplace safety.

Most alarming to worker advocates is a two-thirds reduction in staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Health and Human Services Department that is dedicated to research that protects workers.

The agency’s recommendations are relied on by workers and employers throughout the world. Its work has informed life-saving regulations around asbestos, bloodborne pathogens, silica and black lung, and it tests and authorizes safety equipment relied on by American workers across most industries.

A coalition of unions has filed a lawsuit to restore staffing at NIOSH.

Meanwhile, workers in the Department of Labor, according to a report in The Guardian, have warned of widespread resignations that could cripple the federal government’s ability to investigate and enforce wage-and-hour and OSHA regulations.

Twin Cities Building Trades unions held a Workers Memorial Day ceremony at the Capitol on April 28.

If Trump succeeds in steering the federal government away from its responsibility to protect worker safety, labor leaders warn, it will put overwhelming pressure on unions and state and local agencies to pick up the slack.

“The realities of our present day are disturbing,” Dan McConnell, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, said during a Workers Memorial Day ceremony in St. Paul. “We must remember, while political leaders come and go, our movement endures, and our job remains unchanged.”

Held at the Minnesota Workers Memorial Garden on the Capitol grounds, the ceremony wove together solemn remarks from union leaders and state regulators about their commitment to safety on the job with a sobering reminder of what’s at stake in that work.

Dean Gale, business manager of St. Paul Plumbers Local 34, offered an opening prayer from a podium placed before a row of five white crosses, each bearing the name of a union tradesperson who died in jobsite accidents or from work-related illnesses in the past year.

“Help us honor the legacy the fallen have built and left behind,” Gale said. “You can see it in the skyline.”

The names affixed to the crosses included James Baker III of Bricklayers Local 1, David Buck of Operating Engineers Local 49, Gregory E. Jeanette of IBEW Local 242, Daniel L. Lee of Ironworkers 512 and Zachary McDonald of Bricklayers Local 1.

McConnell said unions would never accept the loss of any worker to jobsite hazards “as merely the price of doing business.”

“We gather today, on Workers Memorial Day, to remember our fallen brothers, to re-center ourselves, to recognize that our work advocating for the safety of our members will never be done and to remind one another, even though we belong to different trades, the safety of our members depends on every member of every trade performing their job safely,” he said.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Blissenbach: Aquatic plant removal bill honors memory of fallen workers

April 28, 2025 by

Minnesota Labor Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach speaks during local Building Trades unions’ Workers Memorial Day ceremony on the Capitol grounds.

From the first day on the job to the last, each and every worker, each and every shift, has the right to a safe and healthy workplace. Unfortunately, in Minnesota between October 2023 and March 2024, Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) investigated 10 workplace fatalities. We take time each April 28, Workers Memorial Day, to honor and remember all workers whose lives were cut short by a workplace injury, illness or disease.

Workers Memorial Day began in 1970 and, within the year, the first Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed, establishing federal OSHA. That first OSHA law – and every worker protection law enacted since then – has passed thanks to the power of the labor movement and concerned citizens, standing up to advocate for the right to a safe workplace and to protect working people.

Every year our agency meets with unions, businesses, trade organizations, medical professionals, workers’ advocates and individuals who share their ideas for improving worker safety. Our role is to listen, to learn from their experiences and to advocate for advancements in workplace safety laws and regulations.

This year I had the honor of meeting the parents of two young men who died in two separate workplace incidents while removing aquatic weeds in 2022 and 2024. I am grateful to these parents for their strength to fight for improved safety for employees who dive on the job.

After completing its investigations, MNOSHA’s compliance office issued citations to those employers for violations of the commercial diving standard. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Legislature introduced legislation designed to increase protections for workers using scuba-diving equipment to perform aquatic weed and plant removal. Called the Brady Aune and Joseph Anderson Act, the new legislation will align the efforts of MNOSHA Compliance and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to ensure employers permitted to perform this work have formally trained and certified scuba divers and use required standardized equipment.

As summer quickly approaches, Minnesota employers performing aquatic weed removal at lakes across the state will be tasked with implementing requirements to protect workers using scuba-diving equipment as a result of this new legislation.

When employers follow required safety standards, have proper controls in place and make safety and health programs a priority, our brothers, sisters and siblings are safer and our state is stronger. On Workers Memorial Day and throughout the year, we must work together to make sure employers embrace safety and health as a core value in their operations so that every worker goes home safe every day.

All workers – no matter their age or experience – have a right to a safe and healthy workplace. When I came to work for the Department of Labor and Industry, I wanted to make a difference in the lives of workers across Minnesota. I joined a workforce of more than 600 dedicated people working in service to all workers of Minnesota, ensuring safety and health in the workplace is a right, not a privilege. It is now more important than ever to protect the rights that exist for workers while advocating to advance safer working conditions that will save lives.

– Nicole Blissenbach is commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Her column appears in the May 2025 issue of The Saint Paul Union Advocate.

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Unions honor fallen tradespeople on Workers Memorial Day

April 28, 2022 by

Twin Cities Building Trades councils observed Workers Memorial Day with a ceremony on the Capitol grounds today, remembering union tradespeople who died from workplace injuries and illnesses over the past year and rededicating their organizations to the cause of safer worksites.

“Every worker, regardless of their language, their gender, their skin color, their age or their citizenship status, has the right to be safe and healthy on the job,” Minnesota Labor and Industry Commissioner Roslyn Robertson said in remarks during the ceremony, held in the Workers Memorial Garden.

Standing along a stone memorial wall, union leaders and family members held 12 white crosses with the names of fallen union members: Neil Boser of Laborers Local 563; Gerald Peterson, Eric Raddatz, Dean Sinwell and Robert Vogelsberg of Operating Engineers Local 49; Duane Peterson, Craig Hansen, Robert Winczewski and Eric Dennis of Glaziers and Glassworkers Local 1324; George Kisel and Gary Newman of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34; and Donald Hopper of Painters Local 1962.

Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council President Joe Fowler chimed a bell as each name was read over the loudspeaker, and a black sash was draped over each cross.

Another cross held the name of longtime Carpenters union member and volunteer Darrell Ray, who died April 19. Ray was a fixture of the trades’ Workers Memorial Day ceremonies, usually as the person ringing the memorial bell.

Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough, a longtime member of Glaziers Local 1324, encouraged those gathered to imagine a Workers Memorial Day when that bell remains silent and “there are no more crosses” marking the deaths of construction workers.

“Memorials like this remind us of the work that’s yet to be done,” McDonough said. “And who’s going to do that work if it’s not you and me standing together in solidarity?”

Labor Commissioner Roslyn Robertson speaks during the Workers Memorial Day observance.

Robertson said upholding labor rights is an important part of making sure workplaces are safe.

“We must listen to the voice of the workers because it’s those workers who really know how to do their jobs safely,” she said. “We have to encourage those workers to be able to stand up when they see unsafe practices taking place.”

The annual day of reflection comes each year on April 28, the anniversary of the creation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1971. Across the country and throughout the world, working people pause to remember workplace fatalities and commit to improving safety on the job.

An annual report from the AFL-CIO, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect,” found that U.S. workplaces have much room for improvement when it comes to safety. Using 2020 employment data, the report found that hazardous working conditions led to 340 deaths every day that year, a rate of 3.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

The fatality rate was three times higher in the construction industry in 2020, and nearly four times higher among transportation and warehouse workers. More than a third of fatalities occurred among workers ages 55 and over.

Cohlton Boser (L) and Talyre Boser hold a cross for their father, Neil Boser, a member of Laborers Local 563 who died in a workplace accident last August.

Minnesota saw 67 workplace fatalities in 2020, according to the AFL-CIO report; 28 came as a result of transportation incidents.

Overall, employers reported nearly 3.2 million work-related injuries and illnesses in 2020, according to the report, and musculoskeletal disorders continued to make up the largest portion injuries, at 21%.

Latino and Black workers remained at greater risk of dying on the job than other workers, the report found.

Researchers also said underreporting of workplace injuries and illnesses is widespread, estimating the true tally of work-related injuries and illnesses at between 5.4 million and 8.1 million each year.

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, is calling on both OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to enact stronger job safety and health protections, for Congress to increase resources for job safety agencies and for workers to have a real voice on safety and health in our workplaces without the fear of retaliation or intimidation.

“That’s tens of thousands of families losing a parent, a child, a sibling, every single year,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said. “Latino and Black workers specifically remain at greater risk of dying on the job than all workers. That is, frankly, unacceptable.”

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Roslyn Robertson: ‘Every fatality crosses my desk, and my stomach just cringes’

April 26, 2022 by

Commissioner Roslyn Robertson (mn.gov photo)

Each year on April 28, the labor movement observes Workers Memorial Day, when union members pause to remember workers killed or injured on the job – and to recommit to the fight for safe workplaces.

It’s a mission shared by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), led by Commissioner Roslyn Robertson since January 2021. Robertson, who has more than 30 years of experience working in the agency, discussed the state’s efforts to promote safe workplaces and more in this Union Advocate interview, edited for length.

UA: What message do you want working people to hear this Workers Memorial Day?

RR: A renewed commitment to supporting workers. COVID changed the world of work to the point that right now it is a worker’s market; there are significantly more job openings than the number of skilled workers who can fill those positions. So I think one of the messages workers should hear this Workers Memorial Day is a debt of gratitude. I’m personally faced with many, many challenges, even at the state level, to find the right fit for the available openings, and I hear that in every arena that I find myself in. But as a regulator, I think the message workers need to hear is they are appreciated, they are supported, they are needed and they are valued in the workplace.

UA: Workers have faced new and unfamiliar risks during the pandemic. What lessons have we learned?

RR: Safety and health in the workplace are as important today as ever. COVID showed us that work is not in any way immune – as a matter of fact, the mere work environment can pose life-threatening hazards to the worker. So prioritizing safety and health is paramount.

We also know that safety pays, that a safe workplace is a profitable workplace. If employers are not doing all they can to control the known hazards, then the disruptions in the workplace could very easily affect their bottom line. Injuries negatively impact more than just that single worker. It can negatively impact the psyche of the workers around that individual, the confidence those workers have in their employer. When you couple that with the significant number of job openings, this should be the motivation for today’s employer to keep workers as safe as possible.

UA: As we look at means of protecting workers from injuries, what’s the importance of a union contract?

RR: Again, COVID has shown just how fragile some of our systems are, and having representation is even more important today than it could have been years ago. This should be an opportune time for unions to expand their reach. Many employees have learned through COVID just how vulnerable they are. Unions promote good safety, health and benefits to workers, whereas those employees who are not represented are really at the mercy of an employer. This is really the time for unions to toot their horns.

UA: What’s behind your passion for promoting and expanding registered apprenticeship?

RR: I started my career in the apprenticeship unit, so I learned how registered apprenticeship creates highly skilled workers that are capable of earning a very decent wage. But my passion for apprenticeship goes even further because my son went through a registered apprenticeship program. Over the years, I always sort of took him along to events. I remember taking him to an apprenticeship graduation ceremony when he was in 10th grade, and I said, that guy there will be earning whatever the journey-level wage rate was for an electrician at the time. My son was just floored.

UA: And how does apprenticeship factor into keeping worksites, particularly in the construction industry, safer?

RR: The first thing an apprentice learns is safety. When you start off prioritizing safety and incorporate that into every single process you do, all of a sudden, they don’t know how not to do it. That really yields some good results, and the commitment to safety training continues throughout their career. Every serious injury crosses my desk, every fatality crosses my desk, and my stomach just cringes. We can never take safety for granted, and we do that by making it a standard part of every training curriculum. That is what you find with union registered apprenticeship.

UA: A recent report brought to light some alarmingly high rates of injury at Amazon warehouses in Minnesota. Is that on the department’s radar?

RR: Amazon warehouses are definitely on our radar. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires state regulators … to investigate any complaints, and there have been a small number of complaints, which is a bit shocking. But Labor and Industry have received complaints against an Amazon warehouse in Shakopee.

Here’s what really bears a bit more explanation. We have conducted a number of investigations at Amazon’s warehouse, however we can only assess the situation for what it appears when we’re there. Many of the injuries that have been subsequently reported through the workers-compensation system are injuries sustained over a period of time. So when you go out and you do an inspection, you can’t see the body changing. Musculoskeletal injuries, injuries based on repetitive motion, they are a bit harder to observe. It’s not like an electrical hazard or a noise hazard or a physical hazard. It looks very different, and it continues to challenge us on appropriate ways we can address it.

UA: Will that require targeted legislation?

RR: Maybe it will. I don’t have language in mind, but I do know this is an issue being debated across the nation. How do you handle the types of injuries that are occurring either because of the line speed or repetitive motion? It’s a serious situation. We’re going to have to bring some well-informed folks to the table in order to figure out a workable solution, one that will improve the safety for workers but also give the employer some space at the table to talk about the uniqueness of their business. It’s a big deal.

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Walz joins Building Trades unions in remembering fallen workers

April 28, 2021 by

In a ceremony today on the State Capitol grounds, Gov. Tim Walz and Labor Commissioner Roslyn Robertson joined members of Twin Cities Building Trades unions in paying tribute to workers who died in the past two years due to work-related injuries or illnesses. 

Observed each year on April 28, Workers Memorial Day honors those who lost their lives on the job. In ceremonies across North America, union members pause to reflect on the impact workplace deaths have on families, co-workers and communities, and raise awareness of ongoing efforts to ensure safer, healthier workplaces.  

Walz and other speakers at the St. Paul ceremony noted that COVID-19 has created new hazards and uncertainties for frontline, essential workers, who have not been able to work remotely over the past 13 months. 

“Those that aren’t with us today, those 7,000-plus Minnesotans who aren’t here, no doubt some of them contracted COVID and lost their lives doing their jobs,” Walz said. “And we found out very early how essential workers are.” 

“Today is about remembering,” Walz added. “But there better be some lessons we’ve learned over the last year.” 

Building Trades unions honored 12 fallen members at the ceremony, their names affixed to white crosses held by family members or union representatives. At the conclusion of the observance, a speaker called out each name, followed by a single bell toll, as black sashes were placed over the crosses. 

“They used their God-given talents to provide,” St. Paul Building Trades President Tom McCarthy said during an opening prayer. “They left us too soon. We humbly pray for their families and loved ones.” 

On behalf of the people of Minnesota, Walz extended his “deepest condolences to the representatives and the families here who have lost loved ones doing the work that makes our lives a little better, doing the work that fuels our economy, doing the work that moves us from place to place.”

Nationwide, about 15 workplace fatalities occur each day, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s roughly one fatal injury every 99 minutes. 

In Minnesota, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated 30 workplace fatalities in 2020. 

In her remarks, Robertson noted that Workers Memorial Day is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the date, now 50 years ago, that federal legislation creating OSHA went into effect. Minnesota won approval to establish its own OSHA in 1985. 

“Workplaces are much safer today than they were before the OSHA Act, but our work is not done,” Robertson said, adding that the legislation “transformed employers’ responsibility to keep workplaces safe.” 

Robertson emphasized the need to do more to protect workers who face greater risks on the job, whether due to the dangerous nature of their work or due to factors that may prevent them from understanding their rights and protections on the job, including language and cultural differences. 

“A safe workplace isn’t a privilege, it is a right of every worker,” the labor commissioner said. “It’s important that all workers have the information and training they need to be safe at the work site, regardless of what they look like, where they come from or what language they speak.  

“If they’re in the workplace, they have a right to a safe work environment.” 

That’s a principle shared by labor unions, which have taken a leading role during the pandemic in winning protections for members and all working people. Unions have fought for access to personal protective equipment, ventilation and paid COVID leave, and they have lobbied lawmakers like Walz for emergency workplace health and safety standards.  

“With the voice of labor and the voice of legislators to back it up, we made sure we wouldn’t ask someone to go back into an unsafe work condition unless we made sure they were taken care of,” Walz said. “We wouldn’t ask them to go back in there unless we were doing all we could to protect them.” 

View the names of tradespeople honored at today’s ceremony here. 

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On Workers Memorial Day, unions still pleading for enforceable federal protections from deadly COVID-19

April 28, 2020 by

Every year on April 28, local unions hold Workers Memorial Day ceremonies to honor their members who died in the last 12 months as a result of work-related injury or illness – and to renew the call for safer workplaces.

This year, with Minnesota under a statewide stay-at-home order, on-site observances were canceled. (The Minnesota AFL-CIO will livestream a ceremony on Facebook tonight at 6 p.m.)

That meant no black scarves draped over crosses bearing the names of the fallen, no mourners standing shoulder to shoulder, offering prayers and observing moments of silence to mark the solemn day.

But with many union members on the front lines of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 – often without the necessary protective gear – unions nationwide planned to mark Workers Memorial Day 2020 with an urgent call, as the rallying cry goes, to “mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

“As the virus continues to spread, many employers are woefully unprepared,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the nation’s highest-ranking labor leader, wrote in a letter to affiliate unions. “Guidance from federal authorities has been inconsistent at best and dangerous at worst…

“Working people are doing our part in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. Now our government must do the same by issuing strong enforceable protections for all workers at risk during this pandemic.”

Letting bosses off the hook

So far, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia has resisted union demands to establish emergency temporary standards for workplaces during the pandemic. Instead, the federal agency charged with protecting workers’ health and safety, OSHA, has distributed “guidance” to employers, none of which is enforceable.

A report published in the Washington Post revealed OSHA received more than 3,000 complaints related to the coronavirus from January through early April. The total number of worker complaints, though, is likely much higher, as some states, including Minnesota, collect and investigate OSHA complaints on their own.

Making matters worse, the Trump administration has over the last three years steadily chipped away at the number of federal OSHA investigators, which stands at its lowest point in the agency’s history. And despite the public health crisis, the agency’s director chair sits unfilled.

Meanwhile, unions warn that Trump’s Centers for Disease Control put communities at risk when it loosened guidelines covering essential workers exposed to COVID-19 earlier this month.

Previously, the CDC urged workers to self-quarantine for 14 days before returning to work. But the new guidelines permit essential workers to make an immediate return, as long as they remain asymptomatic, take their temperature prior to work, wear a mask and practice social distancing “as work duties permit.”

“The loosened guidelines are dangerous, and risk exposing other workers and the public to infection, with supposed mitigation measures that are far less effective in reducing the threat of spreading the virus,” National Nurses United Executive Director Bonnie Castillo said.

Where’s the PPE?

In March, as Minnesota hospitals scrambled to prepare for an influx of COVID-19 patients, union nurses began collecting N-95 masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE) at the Minnesota Nurses Association’s St. Paul offices.

It was a chilling indication that hospitals and nursing homes here were anticipating the same shortages – PPE, ventilators, testing kits – reported by facilities in other parts of the county.

Unions, including AFSCME, SEIU and the Nurses, called on President Trump to use the power of the Defense Production Act to speed up production of PPE and needed medical supplies. But Trump has so far used the DPA sparingly, pitting hospitals and state governments against each other for access to a limited supply of lifesaving equipment.

A report issued April 16 by the Public Accountability Initiative found Trump bowed to pressure from corporate lobbyists with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who urged him not to deploy the DPA.

Many of the most powerful corporations in the Chamber, the report found, have direct financial interests in how the COVID-19 response plays out. That includes medical manufacturers like 3M and Honeywell, major employers of frontline workers and big banks.

“The largest, wealthiest, and most powerful corporations and industries have to show leadership by looking past their bottom lines,” SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry said. “Unfortunately their response so far has been nothing short of appalling.”

Death toll climbing

It’s a cruel irony that Workers Memorial Day observances had to be canceled at a time when so many working people – essential workers providing care to the sick, delivering food to families, stocking shelves with the supplies we need – are putting themselves at risk just by reporting to their jobs.

The AFL-CIO created an online memorial to American union members who died after contracting COVID-19.

As this edition of The Advocate went to press, the number of deaths listed on the page stood at 124. So far, none of the fallen was from Minnesota.

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Workers Memorial Day: Walz issues proclamation, unions plan remote observance

April 28, 2020 by

St. Paul and Minneapolis Building Trades unions’ Workers Memorial Day observances on the State Capitol grounds, have been canceled this year due to COVID-19. (file photo)

Today is Workers Memorial Day, when unions of the AFL-CIO pause to remember workers who died as a result of workplace injury or illness, and renew the labor movement’s commitment to fighting for safe workplaces.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced unions to cancel their in-person observances, the crisis has given new urgency to the cause of worker safety.

Essential workers in Minnesota and across the country – many of them union members – are working every day to provide health care, emergency services and long-term care; keep our food chain intact; deliver the mail and other goods; care for and teach our children; build and maintain our critical infrastructure and more. And too often, they’ve been asked to do it without the personal protective equipment they need.

In a Workers Memorial Day proclamation issued today, Gov. Tim Walz recognized the importance of keeping Minnesota’s essential workers safe, and joined with unions in honoring their fallen members.

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, meanwhile, planned to livestream a remote Workers Memorial Day ceremony today at 6 p.m from its Facebook account.

St. Paul and Minneapolis Building Trades councils would have held their annual Workers Memorial Day event in the Workers Memorial Garden on the State Capitol grounds last Friday.

The following is a list of names that would have been read at that solemn ceremony – names of union tradespeople who died in the previous year as a result of work-related injuries or illnesses.

  • Cory Buerke, Cottage Grove, age 38, member of Bricklayers Local 1, construction accident.
  • Justin Duerr, Des Moines, Iowa, age 23, member of Laborers Local 563, auto accident
  • Tor Heglund, Waconia, age 43, member of Painters Local 386, auto accident on way to work.
  • Eric Koepp, Litchfield, age 48, member of Operating Engineers Local 49, construction accident.
  • Dennis “Denny” Moore, Clear Lake, age 82, retired Plumbers Local 15 business agent, Mesothelioma.
  • Mark Olson, Browerville, age 44, member of Operating Engineers Local 49, construction accident.
  • Zachary Pumper, Savage, age 34, member of Laborers Local 563, construction accident.

Their names would have been etched into white crosses, and representatives of their respective unions would have draped a black scarf over each cross as the deceased member’s name was called out, followed by the tolling of a bell.

The Dakota County Labor Assembly also canceled its ceremony, held each year at the Monument to Fallen workers in Lebanon Hills Cemetery in Apple Valley.

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U.S. workplace fatalities on the rise, unions warn

May 1, 2018 by

Union members, retirees and a local American Legion color guard gather in the Lebanon Cemetery in Apple Valley for the Dakota County Labor Assembly’s Workers Memorial Day ceremony.

As working people around the world paused last weekend to remember those killed or injured on the job, the largest U.S. labor federation released a new report documenting an alarming uptick in workplace fatalities.

Nationally, 5,190 American workers died on the job in 2016, up from 4,836 deaths the previous year. Overall, the national job fatality rate increased to 3.6 per 100,000 workers, from 3.4 in 2015.

“This is officially a national crisis, and it’s only getting worse,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.

The AFL-CIO issued its report, titled “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect,” the week of Workers Memorial Day, observed by working people across the world April 28.

Locally, members of the Building and Construction Trades unions held a ceremony Friday at the Workers Memorial Garden on the State Capitol grounds. In an annual tradition, organizers rang a bell as union officers draped black wreaths on crosses bearing the names of tradespeople who died as a result of workplace injury or illness in the past year.

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The Dakota County Labor Assembly held its observance in the Lebanon Cemetery in Apple Valley. Some 20 people gathered Saturday at the cemetery’s Monument to Fallen Workers for a ceremony that featured the Apple Valley American Legion’s color guard, performances of poetry and music, and remarks by Farmington teacher and pastor Rick Yonker.

Minnesota, according to the AFL-CIO report, had the 31st highest rate of workplace deaths in 2016. Ninety-two Minnesota workers died as a result of on-the-job injuries, a rate of 3.4 deaths per 100,000 workers, up from 2.7 in 2015.

“This year’s report is yet another reminder of the dangers facing working people every single day,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy said. “Minnesotans deserve better and should be leading the nation in workplace safety. We have a right to a safe workplace and a voice on the job.

“What’s more, we deserve leaders in St. Paul and Washington who will stand up for those rights. It’s time for change, and working people are joining together to secure the economic rights and dignity that we’ve earned.”

The report used data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compile a ranking of the most dangerous places for working people. States with the highest workplace fatality rates, according to the report, are Wyoming (12.3 per 100,000 workers), Alaska (10.6), Montana (7.9), South Dakota (7.5) and North Dakota (7.0).

The report also showed that the construction, transportation and agriculture industries remain among the most dangerous. In 2016, 991 construction workers were killed—the highest total of any sector.

Another estimated 50,000 to 60,000 died from occupational diseases, meaning approximately 150 workers died on the job each day from preventable, hazardous workplace conditions.

“We deserve to walk out the front door in the morning knowing we’ll return home safe and healthy after a full day’s work,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “It’s a travesty that working people continue to lose their lives to corporate greed. The selfish and reckless decisions being made in boardrooms and in Washington are killing the very people who built this country.”

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Ken Peterson: Safety legislation offers lesson in policy over party

April 26, 2018 by

Minnesota Labor Commissioner Ken Peterson

April 28 is Workers Memorial Day, meant to remember those who were killed at work and to advocate for improved worker safety and health. The day is also a useful reminder that elected representatives don’t need to be locked in acrimony and positional politics and that they can help.

Though the pain is great with each on-the-job death, we can take consolation in the fact that there are a lot fewer workplace deaths today than in 1970, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created after long Congressional negotiations.

Deaths due to workplace injuries and illnesses have dropped from 14,000 in 1970 to 4,831 in 2015, despite a doubling in the size of the U.S. workforce. When you consider workforce size, 3.4 workers per 100,000 died in 2015 compared to 18 per 100,000 in 1970. Statistically, that 530 percent decline in workplace death rates is one of the greatest public health stories of the past half-century. For comparison, during the same time period, deaths from heart disease dropped 68 percent, while the death rates from cancer dropped 18 percent.

Of course, OSHA is not the only cause of fewer workplace deaths and injuries. Improved technology has made work in industries such as manufacturing, logging and construction much safer and healthier today than in the past. Many employers are also more aware of the emotional and financial costs of unsafe workplaces. Consequently, they emphasize safety and health, even sometimes at the cost of decreased production.

Still, enactment of the Williams-Steiger Act in 1970 creating OSHA marks the turning point for safer and healthier workplaces. Since then, through regulatory enforcement and safety training and advice, OSHA has led in driving down the number of on-the-job injuries and fatalities. However, winning passage of the Act was not easy, taking three years of fighting for and then compromising on the best way for government to help reduce injuries and death.

Almost 400,000 American workers lost their lives from 1945 to 1970. In response to a national outcry, Republican President Richard Nixon proposed a workplace safety bill in 1969 backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Senate in 1970, led by veteran Labor Committee chair Harrison Williams of New Jersey, passed a version favored by labor unions; it was based on a proposal by Nixon’s predecessor, Democrat Lyndon Johnson. Williams was assisted by a fellow Democratic committee member, Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Though the House of Representatives, like the Senate, was nominally controlled by Democrats, real power was in a coalition of mostly southern conservative Democrats and Republicans. Their leader on workplace safety was a talented, young, conservative Republican Rep. William Steiger from Wisconsin.

Steiger was no RINO (or Republican in name only). He was the first to propose cutting taxes to promote prosperity in the form of what later came to be called the Laffer curve; his best friend in Congress was another young member, Rep. Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois; and he had a young intern named Dick Cheney on his staff.

Steiger’s bill, similar to Nixon’s, was backed by the Chamber and passed the House. The two differing bills were sent to a conference committee. Though they disagreed on exactly how to do so, the conservative Steiger and the liberal Williams went into the conference believing action needed to be taken to reduce workplace accidents and illnesses. They talked, argued, wrangled and, most importantly, listened to each other and their bills’ respective backers. Finally, a compromise was worked out, acceptable to both business and labor, led by the AFL-CIO.

When President Nixon signed the compromise measure a few days later, he said that despite disagreeing with some provisions, he believed the Williams-Steiger bill reached “the goal we all want to achieve, the protection of Americans on the job.” Since then, Republican and Democratic presidents alike have supported OSHA, as have all of Minnesota’s governors.

In 1970, Williams, Steiger, other members of Congress and the president could have refused to negotiate and hoped the next election would give their side more votes so they could get their way. Instead, they created OSHA and helped save hundreds of thousands of lives and avoid millions of injuries. They deserve our respect and thanks.

– Ken Peterson is commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

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Ken Peterson: On Workers Memorial Day we remember the dead, fight for the living

April 28, 2017 by

Minnesota Labor Commissioner Ken Peterson

Four workers from St. Louis will not be alive to observe Workers Memorial Day on April 28 this year. Their unnecessary deaths earlier in the month are a stark reminder that despite calls for cutting back government regulations, we cannot allow workplace safety standards or enforcement to be reduced.

At about 7:30 a.m., Monday, April 3, a large boiler blew up in the Loy-Lang Box factory, two miles south of downtown St. Louis resulting in the four deaths.

The force of the explosion instantly killed boiler engineer Ken Trentham and sent a cargo-van size piece of debris rocketing through the factory’s roof and into another building 500 feet away, killing Clifford Lee and newly-weds Chris Watkins and Tonya Suarez-Gonzalez. All three were filling out paperwork to start their new jobs at a medical linen company. Another injured victim remains in critical condition.

It will be weeks, possibly months, before the specific cause of the boiler’s explosion is determined. One thing is known, however, and that is unlike Minnesota and most other places in the U.S., the city of St. Louis does not require boilers to be regularly examined by either government or insurance company inspectors.

Whether a boiler inspection would have prevented the terrible deaths of the St. Louis workers won’t be known until the investigation is done. However, we do know Minnesota has a well-regarded boiler inspection program requiring inspections and licensed operators, and that it’s been at least a half century since an industrial boiler explosion killed anybody in Minnesota.

When enacted in 1971, the goal of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act was to reduce the number killed or injured on the job. Since that time, national fatality rates have been reduced by more than 66 percent and injuries by 67 percent even though the U.S. workforce has more than doubled in size. In Minnesota, both occupational fatalities and injuries are near all-time lows. In 2014, our state had 3.7 injuries for each 100 workers and 2.3 deaths for each 100,000 workers.

Economic and technological changes undoubtedly are partially responsible for the decline in fatalities and injuries. Also, fewer people work in historically dangerous occupations and there is greater employer awareness of the costs of injuries.

Nevertheless, it’s clear today for working people there is a lot less pain and hurt – physically, financially and emotionally – because of enforcement of safety standards.

However, better education of both employees and employers is still needed. For example, in the past two years, three Minnesota workers have been killed by trench cave-ins. To help prevent these tragedies, Minnesota OSHA is encouraging every employer and union involved in excavations to conduct safety stand-downs this spring to remind and inform workers and management to make a plan to protect workers and prevent cave-in accidents.

Safety regulations and education don’t prevent all workplace fatalities. Each year, smaller businesses, which are harder to reach out to, account for a disproportionate number of deaths. So far in 2017, three of the five workplace deaths that Minnesota OSHA has investigated have been at firms with fewer than four employees. Unionized workplaces and those with fifty or more employees tend to have a lower percentage of accidents of all kinds.

Those injured or killed at work should be remembered. Though the injured have their bodies hurt and their lives disrupted, obviously, it’s a greater, more terrible tragedy to have a life cut short, ended too early, by a workplace accident. That’s demonstrated by the five Minnesotans killed this year, as well as the four St. Louis workers killed earlier this month.

On Workers Memorial Day, we should consider the lives of every worker who was killed on the job. Each workplace injury, illness or death is unnecessary. We all need to do what we can to make sure there are fewer in the future.

– Ken Peterson is commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

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