2025 Workers Memorial Day: Fight For Our Lives, Safe Jobs Now

Every year on April 28, Workers Memorial Day, we take time to remember workers who have died on the job from work-related accidents and illnesses, and we commit to fighting for safe work conditions and protections.

No worker gives up their right to life and health when they clock in. And yet, every year, thousands of American workers die on the job. This year, the stakes are even higher. Cuts by the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE increase the risk of injury and death for every worker as federal agencies tasked with investigating and mitigating occupational hazards and other threats are gutted. The ability to feed one’s family, provide for education, and take time away from work to rest and recover are all on the chopping block.

The Workers Memorial Day theme for this year is "Fight for Our Lives: Safe Jobs Now." The AFL-CIO has posted a Workers Memorial Day toolkit with resources you can use as you raise awareness and commemorate the lives of those we have lost. In addition, you can download their "Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect" report here.

This Workers Memorial Day, we honor the memories of these CWA members and others whose deaths over the past year were work-related. They will never be forgotten.

Osmar Chavarria, 39, a shop steward with CWA Local 2108, worked as a service technician for Verizon in Gaithersburg, Md. On July 9, 2024, he was killed while working in a bucket truck when the fiber optic cable he was working with crossed over a 7,620-volt power line. Osmar Chavarria is survived by his wife, Carmen Chavarria, and three children.

Rodney Smith, 53, a member of CWA Local 83799 in Crystal Springs, Miss., worked as a service technician for Hitachi Energy. He died while working inside a transformer due to lack of oxygen in a confined space. Rodney is mourned by his six sons.

Ian Epstein, 54, and Danasia Elder, 34, lost their lives in the fatal crash of American Eagle PSA Flight 5342 on January 29, 2025.Ian and Danasia were Charlotte-based Flight Attendants and members of AFA-CWA Local 23075 who began flying in 2020 and 2024, respectively.

CWA, along with other labor unions and organizations, continues to fight for worker safety against unnecessary and destructive cuts that will inevitably lead to increased worker-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths.

Our job is never finished when it comes to worker health and safety protections. We must safeguard the rights we have won and keep fighting for safer working conditions in every workplace, industry, and sector. That is why on Workers Memorial Day we mourn the dead and fight for the living.

Click these links to learn more about President Trump’s attacks on OSHA and the dismantling of NIOSH.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.