South Florida union leaders and workers will hold a “Workers Memorial Day” on Tuesday at the PortMiami to remember workers who died or were injured on the job over the past year.
They also will protest the Trump administration’s massive layoffs of federal employees, saying the cuts means less enforcement of federal workplace safety laws.
Tuesday’s event will come less than a week after national AFL-CIO released its annual report, “Death on the Job.” It found nearly 5,300 workers died in 2023 on their worksites, including 306 deaths in Florida.
“The massive cuts that the Trump Administration is making to federal agencies that protect the health and safety of American workers will only make jobs less safe,” South Florida AFL-CIO President Jeffery Mitchell, President said in a statement.
The South Florida AFL-CIO leaders said administration officials already killed a measure that protected outdoor workers from extreme heat and mandates employers provide water, share and breaks for workers.
“With the highest heat temperatures in history predicted to occur in Miami this summer and around other southern states, more workers will evidently fall ill and/or die from heat stroke as outdoor workers,” the AFL-CIO said in a statement.
Other top union officials scheduled to attend are Miami-Dade Director of Transit and Mobility Jimmy Morales, PortMiami Director Hydi Webb, President of the International Longshoreman Association (ILA) Local 1416 Eugene Dixon and Biscayne Bay Pilots Captain Jeffery Poole,
The “Workers Memorial Day” event will begin Tuesday at noon at PortMiami, behind the Seaman’s Café, 1180 South American Way, Miami, 33132.
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