Vol. 79/No. 36      October 12, 2015

Felix, 25, who declined to give his full name, was part of a group of workers who spoke to the Militant Sept. 26 outside a construction site in Harlem before going into work. None of them are in a union and most don’t have papers.

On Sept. 17 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its preliminary report on work-related deaths for 2014. When finally revised, the number is expected to top 4,700, the highest since 2008.

More workers died on the job in agriculture, construction, mining and manufacturing. Deaths in the oil and gas fields rose by 27 percent, the highest figure in more than two decades. In construction, nearly 900 workers were killed, the highest number in six years.

Behind these figures are speedup, lower wages and longer hours. Less than 7 percent of workers in the private sector have union protection, and every year fewer are covered. What bosses call productivity — how much they squeeze out of every worker — was close to an all-time high in July, while wages are stagnant or falling.

“Bosses don’t care about the workers and our safety. I’ve worked for three years now and learnt to look out for myself, but when I started it was just luck that nothing serious happened,” Felix said. “I’ve worked with union members. They work safer, their wages are higher, the training better and they have benefits. We have nothing. I think being in a union would be better for us.”
 
 
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