Labor groups mark Workers Memorial Day to highlight workplace deaths
Simulated gravestones are arrayed in front of the Madison Labor Temple on Monday, April 28, 2025, to commemorate Workers Memorial Day. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)
Some 112 Wisconsin workers died on the job in 2023, the AFL-CIO reported Monday as labor unions marked Workers Memorial Day to highlight workplace dangers.
'When a union is there at the workplace, injuries go down and lives are saved,' said Kevin Gundlach, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, representing union workers in Dane County and surrounding counties.
Workers Memorial Day serves both to remember those who have lost their lives at work as well as 'fighting for the living' to have a safe workplace, Gundlach told the Wisconsin Examiner. The date, April 28, coincides with the anniversary of the date that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act took effect 54 years ago.
The AFL-CIO's analysis draws on 2023 job fatality, injury and illness data along with workplace safety regulation enforcement data for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024. Of the 112 Wisconsin worker deaths in 2023, 15 were from assaults and other violent acts, 37 from transportation incidents, 17 from falls, 19 from exposures to harmful substances or environments, and 23 from 'contact with objects or equipment,' according to the AFL-CIO. 'Every worker in Wisconsin has the right to a safe job,' said Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale. 'We need collective bargaining rights and strong unions for all to best ensure that safety concerns are adequately and timely addressed in the workplace.'
Union groups around Wisconsin held events, including in Madison, Milwaukee, Eau Claire, La Crosse and Wausau.
At the Madison event, people working in health care, construction, education and as state game wardens came out. There was also testimony on behalf of immigrant workers in the construction industry.
'Many of these workers are exploited and don't have a union,' Gundlach said. Recent attacks on migrants have made some 'fearful to speak up for workplace conditions.'
The event also called attention to workplace violence as a danger, and the need for employers to address workplace safety issues.
In its report, the AFL-CIO criticized the administration of President Donald Trump, which marks its first 100 days this week, for 'totally decimating the fabric of what makes government protections work for people through attacks on job safety, public health, union rights and the independence of federal agencies.'
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