Working Life

Every day, a worker dies somewhere just doing his or her job. And that death rate hits hard particularly communities of color and immigrants because many work in industries and jobs with low pay and very sketchy safety practices.

This is murder at work, the human “cost of doing business” in the glorious “free market”–except there is very little cost to the company. And usually the managers and CEOs skate, getting a fine or some other slap-on-the-wrist.

Those who wear the burden are the family members of the murdered worker.

In this sea of injustice, a glimmer of justice beckons from New York.

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I pointed out a few days ago that there was zero — and I mean ZERO — mention after the explosion in West, Texas that the plant was not unionized. And it points to a deeper problem: when it comes to workers’ deaths, the media just doesn’t really care.

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   Yesterday, I stood with thousands of other people at the spot of one of the great workplace tragedies in the country’s history–the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It was the 100th anniversary of the fire. The tragedy, though, helped usher in a movement for workplace safety and dignity on the job. I thought I’d share some […]

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    For some politicians, the deaths of workers are either almost invisible or convenient props for getting attention. Recently, during yet another carnage of constructions workers in New York, politicians rushed to the scene to express their concern–the same politicians that do very little day-to-day and actually collect campaign contributions from people who endanger workers’ […]

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