“Safe Workplaces for All, free of retaliation”
New Brunswick, New Jersey: By Louis Kimmel
More than 400 members and supporters of New Labor, the New Jersey Work Environment Council (WEC), and allied organizations, collectively demanded “Safe Workplaces for All, free of retaliation” marched on April 27 in New Brunswick today to honor workers who have been killed or become sick or injured on the job.
The march, with coffins, handmade signs and chants to remember fallen workers, began and ended at Vorhees Hall on Rutgers campus in New Brunswick. It is one of many events taking place around the country and around the globe as part of Workers’ Memorial Day, which brings together workers, families, unions, and allies to honor those affected by unsafe working conditions and to advocate for better protections in the workplace.
This past year, workers in New Jersey died in their workplaces from causes such as falls, being crushed, stuck by, wood chipper, and drowning. Many workplace deaths may have been prevented had there been a right to refuse unsafe work, effective training, or a workplace health and safety committee. These and other systems of safety could have created different outcomes in many of these workplace deaths.
Demands from participants at the march included safe workplaces for ALL, Right to Refuse unsafe work without retaliation and labor protections for workers who speak out about unsafe working conditions, an end to workplace raids and deportations, and passing a Heat Standard for New Jersey (A5022)
Continuing, there was an extreme urgency expressed that baseline worker protections must be saved. The current Administration has been gutting entities like NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and potential cuts to the US Department of Labor.
Several testimonies highlighted the need for systems of safety that eliminate potential safety hazards for workers and the need to create a culture of safety in workplaces.
“A culture of safety means our lives aren’t afterthoughts. Rather, workers know their realities of their workplaces, they are essential to creating that culture and has their voices heard,” said Germania Herandnez, Organizer with New Labor.
Another major theme that marchers highlighted was that health and safety rights need to be upheld through organizing.
“We need to come together to make sure our voices are heard. That’s how we make change,” said Yanel Franco of New Labor
“If there are no baseline protections, this means more workers will die or get injured in the workplace. And if there are no baseline protections, we’re all we got. Safe workplaces are workplaces where we are respected. We march for respect. We march for our literal lives. We go to work to make a living, not to die. No worker’s life is disposable, regardless of where they’re from,” said Louis Kimmel, Executive Director of New Labor
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New Jersey Work Environment Council, an alliance of 70 labor, community, and environmental organizations advocating for safe, secure jobs and a healthy, sustainable environment. For more information, please visit www.njwec.org.
