AFL-CIO Staff

Mary Kate O’Sullivan is a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She and her co-workers fought for the right to organize with National Nurses United for eight months, during which time management bullied and harassed them.

Last year was a challenging one for working people. The COVID-19 pandemic put millions out of work through no fault of their own and the financial impact on working people will be felt for years to come. Unless you were a CEO of a large company. During a painstaking year of unspeakable loss and economic turmoil, AFL-CIO's 2021 Executive Paywatch report shows that the average S&P 500 CEO saw their pay increase more than $700,000 last year. The Executive Paywatch website, the most comprehensive, searchable online database that tracks CEO pay, shows that the CEO of an S&P 500 company received, on average, $15.5 million in total compensation in 2020. The average S&P 500 company CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 299-to-1.

In late May, America hit a milestone: More than half of the country’s population had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. But we still have a ways to go. Getting vaccinated is an important tool to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and put an end to the pandemic. We have lost too many co-workers, friends and family members from COVID-19. We must do everything we can to get as many vaccines into the arms of Americans as possible. Before we rush back into enjoying all of the things we used to before the pandemic—the sporting events, the nights out, the dinners at our favorite restaurants—let’s keep building vaccine confidence to make sure we never have to endure a year like 2020 again.

For the 30th year, AFL-CIO has produced the 2021 edition of “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” report on the state of safety and health protections for America’s working families. Since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 50 years ago, federal job safety agencies have issued many important regulations on safety hazards, strengthened enforcement and expanded worker rights. The toll of workplace injury, illness and death remains too high, and too many workers remain at serious risk. There is much more work to be done.

Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (Va.) have introduced the PRO Act, which restores the right of workers to freely and fairly form a union and bargain together for changes in the workplace. The PRO Act is landmark worker empowerment, civil rights and economic stimulus legislation and an essential part of any plan to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession. The provisions of the PRO Act will help all working families, but in particular, the PRO Act will help address systemic racism.

On Workers Memorial Day, we remember those who have suffered and died on the job. We have lost and continue to lose too many working people to COVID-19 and other workplace hazards. No one should die simply because we go to work.