Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) workers from Cincinnati; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Pittsburgh rallied in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to fight back against the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the essential agency.
AFGE members and other union allies gathered in front of the U.S. Health and Human Services building to speak out against layoffs and budget cuts that have disrupted programs like toxicology research, chemical hazard risk assessment, and surveillance of high-risk industries. NIOSH is the only federal agency that conducts research on worker safety and health to inform policy and regulations that ensure everyone can make it home from their job.
“Labor is working in solidarity to make sure that every single worker doesn’t have to choose between a paycheck and their health," said Micah Niemeier-Walsh, who holds a doctorate in environmental and industrial hygiene and is vice president of AFGE Local 3840. “Because that’s really what’s at stake here with cutting NIOSH...our job is to make sure American workers are safe.”
“Today as always, Mother Jones said this: ‘Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living.’ She also said this: ‘No matter what, you must fight.’ You must fight. You must fight,” said Mine Workers (UMWA) International President Cecil Roberts.