Workers Memorial Day tribute draws advocates, union leaders

Many among the 43 New Yorkers who died on the job in the past year were Latino. 

That’s in line with national trends, which showed that Latinos were most at risk of dying in the workplace, according to a recent report.

Advocates, union leaders and elected officials commemorated Workers Memorial Day outside of City Hall Park April 25 by reading the names of workers across the city who died or were injured on the job. The workers who perished ranged in age from a 19-year-old delivery person to 63-year-old Bernardo Gonzalez Perez, who was beaten to death last July outside of the West Harlem grocery store where he worked.

Of the 43 who died while at work, 28 worked in the construction industry, according to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. Those who spoke at the event pushed for stronger and better protections for workers.

“Today is an opportunity to highlight workplace safety and the ways we can and must fight back to keep workers and the public safe,” said Brendan Griffith, chief of staff at the New York City Central Labor Council. “No one, no one should be allowed to put profit over the safety of people.” 

Eno Awotoye, a program coordinator at the Retail Action Project, urged state lawmakers to pass the Retail Worker Safety Act, which would require retailers to provide employees with training to prevent violence.

“We don’t normally think of retail work as dangerous. It’s supposed to be fashion and fun. But the sad reality is that we have one too many workers die at the hands of an active shooter, or one too many injured at the hands of a violent shopper,” she said.

Fatality rate rises

Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon highlighted recent additions to state law aimed at protecting workers, including guidance issued last year ordering school districts to develop workplace violence prevention programs. City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, who chairs the Civil Service and Labor Committee, called for a return of dignity to workers.

“I think the call to action today as we remember those we’ve lost is to actually look at where change can happen in the workplace so that we never go back to the models where workers are exploited, where salary and wages are continuously stolen and where their lives are disposable,” she said.

De La Rosa also highlighted the deaths of six construction workers in Baltimore after a cargo ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month. “Today we also remember those workers, six souls who also left their homes in the morning to serve their communities and to provide for their families. Six immigrant workers, at that,” she said.

Charlene Obernauer, the executive director of NYCOSH, noted that many of the workers who were killed in the city “were Latinx, and many of whom were new immigrants working to survive.”

The AFL-CIO this week released a report which found that 5,486 workers across the country lost their lives on the job in 2022, a total that does not include those who died from occupational diseases. The fatality rate increased to 3.7 per 100,000 workers, which is the highest it has been since 2008. The most dangerous industries were agriculture, mining, transportation and construction, the report noted.

Black and Latino workers had fatality rates that were even higher: the fatality rate for Black workers in 2022 was 4.2 per 100,000 workers, the highest it has been in 15 years, while Latino workers had the highest rate, at 4.6 per 100,000 workers. The rate of Latino workers dying on the job has increased 24 percent over the past decade, and among the 1,248 Latino workers who died in 2022, 60 percent were immigrants.

The report, which found that workers of color “are especially vulnerable when raising job safety concerns,” called for enhanced safety initiatives to protect immigrant workers, workers of color, contract and temporary workers and older workers from exploitation.

City Council Member Julie Menin referenced the report’s findings at the commemoration. “These are obviously not just statistics,” she said. “These are loved ones that never returned home from work.”

clewis@thechiefleader.com

We depend on the support of readers like you to help keep our publication strong and independent. Join us.