International Secretary-Treasurer
Of all the things unions fight for, there’s one that eclipses everything else: Your right to return home from work every day alive and well.
Since the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was established in 1970, workplace deaths have dropped by more than 60%. But as we’re reminded on Workers Memorial Day every April 28, there’s still a long way to go.
In 2022, the most recent data, 5,486 workers were killed on the job and 120,000 died from occupational diseases. In workplace injuries and illnesses overall, there was a slight uptick to 3.5 million reported incidents.
With line work and the construction trades representing two of North America’s most dangerous professions, the IBEW has a lot of practice fighting for safety standards and enforcement.
But we’re going to need a bigger, louder army. We’re going to need all of you. Four years of historic progress for America’s workers is under fire, including safety rules and meaningful fines for law-breaking employers.
Take what was nearly the first-ever federal standard for heat safety. The IBEW and our allies pushed for it with increasing urgency as summers got hotter. In recent years, workers in some areas of the American South and Southwest have endured weeks on end of temperatures above 100 degrees.
Water, shade and rest breaks can be a matter of life and death, and we make sure they are included in IBEW contracts.
For the millions of other people working outdoors, relief was in sight. But in February, the Trump administration blocked the heat standard from becoming law.
In Congress, there’s a bill to abolish OSHA altogether. Its sponsor, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, thinks workers’ safety should be up to the states alone. Heat danger is a case study in why that’s a problem.
When several cities in Texas and Florida enacted rules requiring water and rest breaks, both states’ Republican Legislatures made such ordinances illegal. In Biggs’ home state, they’re trying to do the same thing. They’re angry about a rule passed by the Phoenix City Council in 2023, when there were so many heat-related deaths, coroners had to bring back COVID-era refrigerator trucks.
Unions fought for the Phoenix standard and are pressuring the Legislature to keep its hands off it. Let’s never forget the power we have at the city, county and state levels.
Nationally, you can join the fight to save OSHA and the protections we’ve largely taken for granted for decades. As Workers Memorial Day approaches, keep an eye out for rallies and memorials, and call your senators and representatives via the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Just like having our brothers’ and sisters’ backs on jobsites, taking action is another way we keep each other safe.
